Documenting baseline vegetation data for salt marshes in Acadia National Park: Bass Harbor Marsh, Northeast Creek, Thompson Island, and Schoodic Peninsula
Mittelhauser G. 2016. Documenting baseline vegetation data for salt marshes in Acadia National Park: Bass Harbor Marsh, Northeast Creek, Thompson Island, and Schoodic Peninsula. Maine Natural History Observatory. Gouldsboro, ME
From the introduction: "All ecosystems in Maine will be affected by climate change over the next few decades, and species with narrow ranges, small population sizes, and a distribution determined by low temperatures may be more susceptible to climate change (Sætersdal and Birks 1997; Lesica and McCune 2004; Pauli et al. 2015). In addition, stressors such as sea level rise, caused by melting glaciers and polar ice and thermal expansion of a warming ocean, are predicted to accelerate along the Maine coast (Nielsen and Dudley 2013). Salt marshes, with the highest productivity of any terrestrial or marine system, have limited distribution in Maine, have species distribution controlled by minute differences in salinity, and many do not have adequate upland area directly adjacent for migration of species as sea levels rise (Watson and Byrne 2009, Nielsen and Dudley 2013). The primary objective of this study were to conduct a botanical baseline inventory of the salt marshes of Acadia National Park and document the flora using methods that may be useful for long-term monitoring studies."
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Mittelhauser, Glen
- Date of Issue
- 2016
- Publisher
- Maine Natural History Observatory
- Units
- ACAD
- Keywords
- checklist, marshes, salt marshes, vegetation