Effects of climate on coastal ecosystems Dr. Merryl Alber University of Georgia

Dept. of Marine Sciences University of Georgia Athens Georgia 30602-3636 USA

malber@uga.edu https://marsci.uga.edu/directory/people/merryl-alber https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9467-4449 Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project

Dept. of Marine Sciences University of Georgia Athens Georgia 30602-3636 USA

gcelter@uga.edu https://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/ Dr. Merryl Alber University of Georgia

Dept. of Marine Sciences University of Georgia Athens Georgia 30602-3636 USA

malber@uga.edu https://marsci.uga.edu/directory/people/merryl-alber https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9467-4449 Principal investigator Dr. Charles S. Hopkinson University of Georgia

229 Marine Sciences Bldg. University of Georgia Athens GA 30602-3636 United States

chopkins@uga.edu https://www.marsci.uga.edu/directory/people/charles-hopkinson https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7331-8322 Affiliated investigator Colin Polsky Clark University (PIE LTER)

Plum Island Ecosystems LTER

Affiliated investigator Dr. Evelyn Gaiser Florida International University (FCE LTER)

Department of Biological Sciences and SERC Florida International University University Park, OE 167 Miami FL 33199 United States

Affiliated investigator 2026

The LTER provides a network of coastal sites that differ in their biophysical vulnerability to various aspects of climate change, with some being more affected by sea level rise and storm surge (e.g. VCR, FCE) and others by acidification (e.g. MCR), loss of sea ice (e.g. PAL), changes in temperature (e.g. CCE), or changes in freshwater inflow (e.g. PIE, GCE). Coastal LTER sites also differ in their gradients of human vulnerability, with differences arising from coastal population densities and demographic compositions (e.g. FCE vs. VCR) and also from the location and resilience of their built infrastructure (e.g. BES vs. SBC). This range of effects and vulnerabilities provides a unique position for the Network to examine and test hypotheses about coastal climate change and its effects and to better understand the factors controlling human and natural system vulnerability and response. The coastal LTER group has proposed a network-wide initiative designed to take advantage of the distribution of coastal sites and their differing socio-ecological characteristics.

Question 1: What are the long-term patterns of environmental forcing to the coastal zone? (more information)

temperature LTER NSF GCE acidification climate coastal sea level storm surge Overall geographic extent of the research project -84.438334 -81.506075 34.385550 31.315563 2007-01-01 2012-11-01

National Science Foundation grant numbers OCE-9982133 and OCE-0620959

estuary marsh complex Altamaha River basin - Upper Altamaha River watershed basin, encompassing the drainages of the Oconee, Ohoopee, Ocmulgee and Little Ocmulgee Rivers. -84.438334 -81.506075 34.385550 31.315563 Narron, C., O'Connell, J.L., Mishra, D., Cotten, D.L., Hawman, P. and Mao, L. 2022. Flooding in Landsat across tidal systems (FLATS): An index for intermittent tidal filtering and frequency detection in salt marsh environments. Ecological Indicators. 141:109045. (DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109045) http://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/public/uploads/1-s2.0-S1470160X22005167-main_20220708T200751.pdf Hopkinson, C.S., Lugo, A., Alber, M., Covich, A. and Van Bloem, S.J. 2008. Understanding and forecasting the effects of sea level rise and intense windstorms on coastal and upland ecosystems: the need for a continental-scale network of observatories. Frontiers in Ecology. 6(5):255-263. (DOI: 10.1890/070153) https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/070153 Alber, M., Cronin, T., Giblin, A., Howarth, R., Jay, D., Justic, D., Kimmerer, W., Montagna, P., Knowles, N., Najjar, R., Peterson, B., Scavia, D., Ulanowicz, D. and Walker, H. 2003. Presentation: Effects of climate-induced changes of freshwater inflow on estuaries: Report of the ERF biocomplexity working group. 2003 Estuarine Research Federation meeting. September 2003, Seattle, WA. Alber, M. 2002. Presentation: The ERF Biocomplexity Initiative: The implications of climate change for estuaries. Southeastern Estuarine Research Society meeting. October 2002, Conway, SC. Alber, M. 2002. Presentation: Freshwater inflow to estuaries. Biocomplexity in estuarine responses to climate change and variability. ERF Workshop. April 2002, Woods Hole, MA.