Climate change-induced salinity variation impacts on a stenoecious mangrove species in the Indian Sundarbans.
The alterations in the salinity profile are an indirect, but potentially sensitive, indicator for detecting changes in precipitation, evaporation, river run-off, glacier retreat, and ice melt. These changes have a high impact on the growth of coastal plant species, such as mangroves. Here, we present estimates of the variability of salinity and the biomass of a stenoecious mangrove species (Heritiera fomes, commonly referred to as Sundari) in the aquatic subsystem of the lower Gangetic delta based on a dataset from 2004 to 2015. We highlight the impact of salinity alteration on the change in aboveground biomass of this endangered species that, due to different salinity profile in the western and central sectors of the lower Gangetic plain, shows an increase only in the former sector, where the salinity is dropping and low growth in the latter, where the salinity is increasing.
School of Biodiversity & Conservation of Natural Resources, Central University of Orissa, Landiguda, Koraput, Odisha, 764020, India.
Kakoli
K
Banerjee
Biological Diversity and Ecology Laboratory, Bio-Clim-Land Centre of Excellence, Biological Institute, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia, 634050. robertocazzollagatti@mail.tsu.ru.
Roberto Cazzolla
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5130-8492
RC
Gatti
Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35, B.C. Road, Kolkata, 700019, India.
Abhijit
A
Mitra
D018533:Biomass; D057231:Climate Change; D056727:Endangered Species; D007194:India; D019660:Malvaceae / Q000254:growth & development*; D054712:Salinity; D053833:Wetlands
Aboveground biomass; Climate change; Gangetic plain; Glacier melting; Heritiera fomes; Salinity