Early warning signs of salt marsh drowning indicated by widespread vulnerability from declining belowground plant biomass.

ABSTRACT: Salt marshes provide valuable ecosystem services but are vulnerable to drowning with accelerated sea-level rise (SLR). Marsh belowground biomass (BGB) production helps avoid drowning by building marsh surface elevation. Reductions in BGB can serve as an early warning sign of marsh deterioration, as they often precede decreases in aboveground biomass (AGB). However, landscape-scale BGB assessments to predict broad trends in marsh deterioration have not been previously available. We applied the Belowground Ecosystem Resiliency Model (BERM) to assess standing stocks and trends in both BGB and AGB over the past decade (2014-2023) across US Georgia coast Spartina alterniflora marshes (691 km²). Over this time period, BGB and AGB averaged 841 ± 323 and 221 ± 14 g m^-2

SUBMITTER: Runion KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12232618 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature