After sustaining seemingly catastrophic Hurricane damage, a primordial groundcover vital to sustaining a multitude of coastal lifeforms bounced back to life in a matter of months.
The finding, co-led by a University of Maryland researcher and published today in Science Advances, offers rare optimism for the future of one of Earth's most critical ecosystems as climate change alters the global pattern of intense storms.
The good news is that in these types of environments, there are mechanisms that can play an important role in stabilizing the environment.
The team, co-led by California Institute of Technology and University of Colorado, Boulder, had been studying the island's microbial mats. Microbial mats are a squishy, spongey ecosystems that have sustained a diverse array of life from the tiny organisms that make a home in the upper oxygenated layers to the mangroves, which in turn provide habitats for even more species. The variety of mats found all over the world can be found in wildly different environments, but the coastal locations most vulnerable to severe storms are usually saltwater-oriented.
The team had been working on the island when the eyewall of Hurricane Irma hit.
After we learned everyone was okay, we were well-poised to investigate how the mat communities responded.
The mats were destroyed by the impact of the tropical storm. The team was excited to see the mats grow again, with new mats appearing in as little as 10 months.
The growth of new mats suggested that the storm may help the ecosystems adapt to changing sea levels.
The lead author of the study said that it was good news that the mangrove and microbial maps were stable in the Florida Keys.
The team included co-senior authors Woodward W. Fischer, Nathaniel T. Stein, Kyle S. Metcalfe, Theodore M. Present, Victoria J. Orphan, and John P. Grotzinger.
More information: Usha F. Lingappa, Early impacts of climate change on a coastal marine microbial mat ecosystem, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abm7826. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm7826 Journal information: Science Advances Citation: In wake of hurricane, microbial ecosystem remarkably resilient (2022, May 27) retrieved 27 May 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-05-hurricane-microbial-ecosystem-remarkably-resilient.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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