Donny Fernando/National Geographic Indonesia
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The gray heron bird is seen in the morning around the coast of the Angke-Kapuk Protected Forest, Jakarta. The Angke-Kapuk Protection Forest is located in a transitional coastal area between land and sea in the northwestern part of DKI Jakarta.
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Nationalgeographic.co.id—What will happen in the future about rising sea levels? a historical record says for many years sea level always rose by a few millimeters to the highest peak at the end of the century.
There are two causes of global sea level rise, one of which is a warmer planet causing most of the ice to melt. Others are on land and seawater thermal exonsion. Meanwhile in the United States, another cause of the increase sea level is due to the slowing of the gulf current (gulf stream).
Then, what does rising sea levels mean for? salt marsh?
Saltwater swamp is in a narrow tidal range. They can continue to sink and dry out. When sea level up they will follow.
Anne Giblin, senior scientist and ecosystem director of the University of Chicago’s Center for Marine Biology Laboratory, said there are three mechanisms to follow.
“First they migrate backwards to higher ground, then they collect inorganic and organic matter from the incoming tide, and they produce organic matter in the soil,” Giblin said at an online seminar at UChicago Yuen Campus Hong Kong.
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Swamp migration can form when sea levels rise in areas of higher elevation. Meanwhile, if humans build coastal walls, it is actually problematic and prevents swamp migration.
Then grass plays an important role in trapping sediments, because the more above-ground biomass, the more traps there will be to collect inorganic and organic matter from the incoming tide.
Finally, their way of surviving the rising seas is the production of organic matter from the salt marsh grasses. Roots and rhizomes underground very slowly decompose and form peat which helps sediment accretion. When the grass is washed away by the waves, it forms new soil from dead plants.
A salt marsh, dominated by grass. There are two dominating grasses, one is called Cordgrass or mine grass (Spartina alterniflora). It is in a “low swamp” where the grass is flooded once or twice a day. One more grass found in the “high swamp”. A salt marsh hay (Spartina patens), it is only flooded at spring tide four to eight times per month.
In this ecosystem, the difference in the height of the plants is very small. Between “low swamps” and “high swamps” may be only a matter of centimeters.
Yunaidi Joepoet
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Glacier trails can be seen from above Muddus National Park, where peat swamps form in the dat
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And their environment is very stressful. “Because the grass competes with each other for nutrients,” says Giblin.
Although they compete, according to data from the 1975 RH Whittaker Communities and Ecosystems, salt marshes are surprisingly the most productive ecosystem on the planet besides mangroves.
These productive ecosystems support a microbial-rich food chain at the bottom, or more commonly known as a detritus food web.
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Saltwater swamp it also helps keep estuaries clear of nutrients that come from wastewater, fertilizers, and rainfall.
“Plants take up some of the nitrogen for growth. Microbes recycle nitrogen and convert it into other forms. Other microbes remove nitrogen by turning it into N2 gas,” says Giblin.
In addition, coastal wetlands such as salt marsh It also protects against storms and waves. According to Giblin, the swamp protects the coastline. Swamps can reduce wave energy by up to 67%.
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