EcoLab, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse, France.
Nature & Developpement, Martinique, France.
Sci Rep. 2019 Dec 12;9(1):18971. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-55393-3.
In early September 2017, Irma was the most powerful hurricane that struck the northern Caribbean over the last 100 years. In the 21 century, the stronger types of tropical cyclones will likely increase in frequency due to the climate change and internal climate variability. Lessons to anticipate the response of mangroves to this intensification can be learned from this extreme event. Here, we analysed damages caused in mangrove forests of the Saint Martin Island. Mangroves of this island were previously degraded due to historic human pressures and recent over-urbanisation. Forest inventories and time series of very high resolution satellite images revealed that approximately 80% of the mangrove area was damaged by the hurricane. Results highlighted distinct rates of forest recovery. Early and rapid recoveries were largely observed in most study sites. However, some mangroves were still unable to recover fourteen months after the disturbance. The human-induced degradation of the ecosystem prior to the hurricane is hypothesised to be the main factor controlling the absence of forest recovery. We suggest that human-degraded mangroves will be weakened in the face of such extreme events. We advocate to preserve and restore mangroves in order to guarantee all the valuable ecosystem services they provided.
2017 年 9 月初，“艾尔玛”（Irma）成为过去 100 年来袭击北加勒比地区的最强飓风。在 21 世纪，由于气候变化和内部气候变异性，更强类型的热带气旋可能会更频繁地发生。可以从这次极端事件中吸取经验，预测红树林对这种加剧的反应。在这里，我们分析了圣马丁岛（Saint Martin Island）红树林所受到的破坏。由于历史上的人类压力和最近的过度城市化，该岛的红树林以前已经退化。森林清查和高分辨率卫星图像的时间序列显示，飓风大约破坏了 80%的红树林地区。研究结果突出了不同的森林恢复速率。在大多数研究地点，早期和快速的恢复得到了广泛观察。然而，一些红树林在干扰发生后 14 个月仍无法恢复。飓风前生态系统的人为退化被假设为控制森林无法恢复的主要因素。我们认为，在这种极端事件面前，人类退化的红树林将变得脆弱。我们主张保护和恢复红树林，以保证它们提供的所有有价值的生态系统服务。
