Impacts and Recovery from Multiple Hurricanes in a Piedmont–Coastal Plain River System

Mallin, Michael A.; Posey, Martin H.; McIver, Matthew R.; Parsons, Douglas C.; Ensign, Scott H.; Alphin, Troy D.

doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052[0999:iarfmh]2.0.co;2

Cited by 90 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Despite the potential importance of interactions between anthropogenic and natural disturbances for many ecosystems (e.g., Mallin et al 2002), few experiments have evaluated the impacts of nutrient loading on the level of damaged sustained during disturbance events (Herbert et al 1999, Lovelock et al 2011. It is not known how increased nutrients from anthropogenic sources might affect damage and recovery of mangroves from hurricanes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient enrichment intensifies hurricane impact in scrub mangrove ecosystems in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, USA

Feller

Dangremond

Devlin

et al. 2015

Ecology

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Abstract. Mangroves are an ecological assemblage of trees and shrubs adapted to grow in intertidal environments along tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate coasts. Despite repeated demonstrations of their ecologic and economic value, multiple stressors including nutrient over-enrichment threaten these and other coastal wetlands globally. These ecosystems will be further stressed if tropical storm intensity and frequency increase in response to global climate changes. These stressors will likely interact, but the outcome of that interaction is uncertain. Here, we examined potential interaction between nutrient over-enrichment and the September 2004 hurricanes. Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne made landfall along Florida's Indian River Lagoon and caused extensive damage to a long-term fertilization experiment in a mangrove forest, which previously revealed that productivity was nitrogen (N) limited across the forest and, in particular, that N enrichment dramatically increased growth rates and aboveground biomass of stunted Avicennia germinans trees in the interior scrub zone. During the hurricanes, these trees experienced significant defoliation with three to four times greater reduction in leaf area index (LAI) than control trees. Over the long term, the þN scrub trees took four years to recover compared to two years for controls. In the adjacent fringe and transition zones, LAI was reduced by .70%, but with no differences based on zone or fertilization treatment. Despite continued delayed mortality for at least five years after the storms, LAI in the fringe and transition returned to pre-hurricane conditions in two years. Thus, nutrient over-enrichment of the coastal zone will increase the productivity of scrub mangroves, which dominate much of the mangrove landscape in Florida and the Caribbean; however, that benefit is offset by a decrease in their resistance and resilience to hurricane damage that has the potential to destabilize the system.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrient enrichment intensifies hurricane impact in scrub mangrove ecosystems in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, USA

Feller

Dangremond

Devlin

et al. 2015

Ecology

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“…Low DO in rivers and estuaries is a common short-term aftermath of hurricanes because of loading of organic materials from natural, agricultural, and urban sources (36). Hypoxia affected the entire water column of the Neuse River, and was more extreme after Fran, which contributed less flow than the 1999 hurricane season.…”

Section: -33 and Supporting Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative impacts of two major hurricane seasons on the Neuse River and western Pamlico Sound ecosystems

Burkholder

Eggleston

Glasgow

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Ecosystem-level impacts of two hurricane seasons were compared several years after the storms in the largest lagoonal estuary in the U.S., the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System. A segmented linear regression flow model was developed to compare mass-water transport and nutrient loadings to a major artery, the Neuse River Estuary (NRE), and to estimate mean annual versus storm-related volume delivery to the NRE and Pamlico Sound. Significantly less water volume was delivered by Hurricane Fran (1996), but massive fish kills occurred in association with severe dissolved oxygen deficits and high contaminant loadings (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, suspended solids, and fecal bacteria). The high water volume of the second hurricane season (Hurricanes Dennis, Floyd, and Irene in 1999) delivered generally comparable but more dilute contaminant loads, and no major fish kills were reported. There were no discernable long-term adverse impacts on water quality. Populations of undesirable organisms, such as toxic dinoflagellates, were displaced down-estuary to habitats less conducive for growth. The response of fisheries was species-dependent: there was no apparent impact of the hurricanes on commercial landings of bivalve molluscs or shrimp. In contrast, interacting effects of hurricane floodwaters in 1999 and intensive fishing pressure led to striking reductions in blue crabs. Overall, the data support the premise that, in shallow estuaries frequently disturbed by hurricanes, there can be relatively rapid recovery in water quality and biota, and benefit from the scouring activity of these storms.estuaries ͉ fisheries ͉ resilience ͉ volume delivery ͉ water quality

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“…Hurricane winds can also uproot trees and produce 1.2-2.0 times the annual mean litterfall by defoliation, as was observed at an experimental forest in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Hugo struck in 1989 (Lodge and McDowell 1991). Increased amounts of leaf litter in aquatic systems can cause marked increases in nutrient inputs to these systems Schaefer et al 2000;Mallin et al 2002), which in turn, can lead to bottom water hypoxia (Paerl et al 2001). Because of the lack of preimpact data available, there have been few attempts to directly measure how these hurricane impacts affect fish assemblages (Paperno et al 2006;Stevens et al 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 91%

Effects of Hurricane Katrina on Freshwater Fish Assemblages in a Small Coastal Tributary of Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana

Vrancken

O'Connell

2010

Trans Am Fish Soc

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Hurricane Katrina struck southeastern Louisiana on 29 August 2005 and thereby created an opportunity to examine the effects of a catastrophic storm on fish assemblages in a coastal stream. Bayou Lacombe is a small (46.1 river kilometers), primarily freshwater stream that drains into the northeastern portion of Lake Pontchartrain, a large oligohaline estuary located north of New Orleans. In summer 2005 (prior to the hurricane), three upstream and three downstream reaches of Bayou Lacombe were surveyed by electrofishing. These same six reaches were resurveyed in the summer of 2006 to assess the effects of the hurricane on fish assemblages. There were significant changes in fish assemblages at the downstream and upstream reaches. At the downstream reaches, centrarchid species such as bluegill Lepomis macrochirus, warmouth L. gulosus, and redspotted sunfish L. miniatus increased in abundance after the hurricane, as did inland silverside Menidia beryllina and striped mullet Mugil cephalus, both estuarine‐dependent species. At the upstream reaches, longear sunfish L. megalotis decreased after the hurricane and weed shiners Notropis texanus, goldstriped darters Etheostoma parvipinne, and warmouth were absent from posthurricane samples. Principal components and BEST analyses showed that differences in dissolved oxygen between years were related to fish assemblage changes in the upstream reaches. Salinity and temperature were associated with fish assemblage changes in the downstream reaches. Similar significant changes could occur in other coastal streams prone to increased hurricane activity.

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Impacts and Recovery from Multiple Hurricanes in a Piedmont–Coastal Plain River System

Cited by 90 publications

References 24 publications

Nutrient enrichment intensifies hurricane impact in scrub mangrove ecosystems in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, USA

Nutrient enrichment intensifies hurricane impact in scrub mangrove ecosystems in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida, USA

Comparative impacts of two major hurricane seasons on the Neuse River and western Pamlico Sound ecosystems

Effects of Hurricane Katrina on Freshwater Fish Assemblages in a Small Coastal Tributary of Lake Pontchartrain, Louisiana

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