National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, PO Box 8030, Haifa 31080, Israel; Marine Biology Department, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
National Institute of Oceanography, Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research, PO Box 8030, Haifa 31080, Israel; Marine Biology Department, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel.
Sci Total Environ. 2021 Oct 15;791:148377. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148377. Epub 2021 Jun 9.
Sea level rise (SLR), driven by anthropogenic climate change, can be a major threat to coastal ecosystems. Among the most biologically diverse but SLR-threatened coastal ecosystems are rocky shores, especially in regions with a small tidal range. Nonetheless, the impacts of SLR on rocky shore biodiversity, community structure and ecosystem functions have rarely been studied. Here, we use the biogenic intertidal ecosystem, Mediterranean vermetid reefs on the Israeli coast, as case study for testing the potential impact of SLR on reef communities, with surveys, 3D topographic mapping plus SLR simulations, and a manipulative community translocation experiment. We show that: (1) biodiversity is much lower on very shallow, permanently submerged, horizontal rocky surfaces compared to that on intertidal reef platforms, (2) the extensive intertidal platforms will permanently drown under even modest SLR scenarios, (3) the rich intertidal community will transform, when permanently submerged, either to a very different but still rich community when protected from grazing by highly abundant invasive fish (rabbitfish), or to a much poorer turf community when exposed to such fish grazing, and (4) the reef community net production will drastically drop under permanent submersion. Because the main ecosystem engineer of the vermetid reefs, Dendropoma anguliferum (Monterosato, 1878), is nearly extinct in the southeast Levant, it is unlikely that new reefs will be formed higher on the shore in the future, presumably resulting in extensive coastal ecological shifts. Considerable coastal community shifts are forecasted for many regions globally due to SLR, as many shorelines are predicted to suffer from "coastal squeeze". Hence, similar manipulative experiments are encouraged in other regions to test for generality vs. context dependency in SLR ecological impacts. We suggest that in cases where essential/unique intertidal habitats like vermetid reefs are expected to vanish by SLR, constructing carefully-planned, ecologically friendly, artificial alternatives should be considered.
海平面上升（SLR）是人为气候变化的驱动因素，可能对沿海生态系统构成重大威胁。在最具生物多样性但受 SLR 威胁的沿海生态系统中，有岩石海岸，尤其是在潮汐范围较小的地区。尽管如此，SLR 对岩石海岸生物多样性、群落结构和生态系统功能的影响很少得到研究。在这里，我们以以色列海岸的生物成因潮间带生态系统、地中海涡螺礁为例，检验 SLR 对珊瑚礁群落的潜在影响，进行了调查、3D 地形测绘加上 SLR 模拟以及人为群落迁移实验。结果表明：（1）非常浅、永久淹没的水平岩石表面上的生物多样性远低于潮间带礁台，（2）即使在适度的 SLR 情景下，广泛的潮间带平台也将永久淹没，（3）当永久淹没时，丰富的潮间带群落将发生转变，要么变成一个非常不同但仍然丰富的群落，当受到大量入侵鱼类（兔子鱼）的放牧保护时，要么变成一个更贫瘠的草皮群落，当暴露在这种鱼类放牧时，以及（4）当永久淹没时，珊瑚礁群落的净生产力将急剧下降。由于涡螺礁的主要生态系统工程师 Dendropoma anguliferum（Monterosato，1878）在东黎凡特几乎灭绝，因此未来在海岸线上形成新的礁的可能性不大，可能会导致广泛的沿海生态系统变化。由于 SLR，预计许多地区的沿海社区都会发生重大变化，因为许多海岸线预计会受到“海岸挤压”的影响。因此，鼓励在其他地区进行类似的人为实验，以检验 SLR 生态影响的普遍性与背景依赖性。我们建议，在预计由于 SLR 而消失的重要/独特的潮间带栖息地（如涡螺礁）的情况下，应考虑精心规划、生态友好的人工替代物。
