Macroclimatic change expected to transform coastal wetland ecosystems this century

Research into the impacts of climate change on coastal wetlands has tended to focus on sea-level rise. Now modelling of Gulf of Mexico wetland plant community responses to climate change projects transformative ecological changes this century. Coastal wetlands, existing at the interface between land and sea, are highly vulnerable to climate change1,2,3. Macroclimate (for example, temperature and precipitation regimes) greatly influences coastal wetland ecosystem structure and function4,5. However, research on climate change impacts in coastal wetlands has concentrated primarily on sea-level rise and largely ignored macroclimatic drivers, despite their power to transform plant community structure6,7,8,9,10,11,12 and modify ecosystem goods and services5,13. Here, we model wetland plant community structure based on macroclimate using field data collected across broad temperature and precipitation gradients along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast. Our analyses quantify strongly nonlinear temperature thresholds regulating the potential for marsh-to-mangrove conversion. We also identify precipitation thresholds for dominance by various functional groups, including succulent plants and unvegetated mudflats. Macroclimate-driven shifts in foundation plant species abundance will have large effects on certain ecosystem goods and services5,14,15,16. Based on current and projected climatic conditions, we project that transformative ecological changes are probable throughout the region this century, even under conservative climate scenarios. Coastal wetland ecosystems are functionally similar worldwide, so changes in this region are indicative of potential future changes in climatically similar regions globally.