Understanding the consequences of sea level rise: the ecological implications of losing intertidal habitat

ABSTRACT

Sea level rise (SLR) has been described as one of the greatest potential causes of ecosystem disruption, putting many coastal areas at risk of irreversible changes. However, the loss of intertidal areas from SLR and the associated ecological and social repercussions receive little attention. Within estuaries, extensive intertidal areas harbour a variety of habitats and communities and represent hotspots of ecosystem functions. Any changes to their distribution or extent are likely to have far reaching implications. Here we summarise the ecological consequences of a reduction in intertidal area from increasing SLR, and the implications for people, management and planning. To facilitate this discussion, changes in the occurrence and abundance of two ecologically and culturally important intertidal shellfish species (Austrovenus stutchburyi and Macomona liliana) were modelled under different SLR scenarios for Tauranga Harbour, Aotearoa New Zealand. We highlight how the squeezing of intertidal areas will likely alter the distribution and extent of key habitats and communities, and discuss the implications for coastal food webs, ecosystem functioning and service provision. Pre-emptive planning and adaptive management are needed that incorporate ecological losses in risk assessments and focuses on pro-active solutions to increase resilience to the effects of SLR.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate change
• ecosystem functions
• ecosystem services
• environmental management
• planning
• resilience

Acknowledgements

Data for the modelling conducted in this study was kindly provided by the Manaaki Taha Moana (MTM) and Oranga Taiao Oranga Tangata (OTOT) projects, as well as Manaaki Te Awanui and University of Waikato. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for providing constructive comments that improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Sustainable Seas – National Science Challenge ‘Communicating risk and uncertainty to aid decision making’ and ‘Ecological responses to cumulative effects’ projects; Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment [grant number C01X1901].