Site Level Elevation Collection Data

Winter climate change has the potential to have a large impact on coastal wetlands in the southeastern U.S. Warmer winter temperatures and reductions in the intensity of freeze events would likely lead to mangrove forest range expansion and salt marsh displacement in parts of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coast. The objective of this research was to better understand some of the ecological implications of mangrove forest migration and salt marsh displacement. The potential ecological effects of mangrove migration are diverse ranging from important biotic impacts (e.g., coastal fisheries, land bird migration; colonial nesting wading birds) to ecosystem stability (e.g., response to sea level rise and drought; habitat loss; coastal protection) to biogeochemical processes (e.g., carbon storage; water quality). In this research, our focus was on the impact of mangrove forest migration on coastal wetland soil processes and the consequent implications for coastal wetland responses to sea level rise, ecosystem resilience, and carbon storage. Our study specifically addressed the following questions: (1) How do ecological processes and ecosystem properties differ between salt marshes and mangrove forests; (2) As mangrove forests develop, how do their ecosystem properties change and how do these properties compare to salt marshes; (3) How do plant-soil interactions across mangrove forest structural gradients differ among three distinct locations that span the northern Gulf of Mexico; and (4) What are the implications of mangrove forest encroachment and development into salt marsh in terms of soil development, carbon and nitrogen storage, and soil strength? To address these questions, we utilized the salt marshes and natural mangrove forest structural gradients present at three distinct locations in the northern Gulf of Mexico: Cedar Key (Florida), Port Fourchon (Louisiana), and Port Aransas (Texas). Each of these locations represents a distinct combination of climate-driven abiotic conditions. We quantified relationships between plant community composition and structure, soil and porewater physicochemical properties, hydroperiod, and climatic conditions. The suite of measurements that we collected provide initial insights into how different geographic areas of an ecotone, with different environmental conditions, may be impacted by mangrove forest expansion and development, and how these changes may alter the supply of specific ecosystem goods and services. This file includes the site-level elevation data. This work was conducted via a collaborative effort between scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey National Wetland Research Center and the Department of Biology of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.