Trace metal behaviour in estuarine and riverine floodplain soils and sediments: A review

Global climate change is expected to affect temperature and precipitation patterns, oceanic and atmospheric circulation, rate of rising sea level, and the frequency, intensity, timing, and distribution of hurricanes and tropical storms. The magnitude of these projected physical changes and their subsequent impacts on coastal wetlands will vary regionally. Coastal wetlands in the southeastern United States have naturally evolved under a regime of rising sea level and specific patterns of hurricane frequency, intensity, and timing. A review of known ecological effects of tropical storms and hurricanes indicates that storm timing, frequency, and intensity can alter coastal wetland hydrology, geomorphology, biotic structure, energetics, and nutrient cycling. Research conducted to examine the impacts of Hurricane Hugo on colonial waterbirds highlights the importance of long-term studies for identifying complex interactions that may otherwise be dismissed as stochastic processes.

Rising sea level and even modest changes in the frequency, intensity, timing, and distribution of tropical storms and hurricanes are expected to have substantial impacts on coastal wetland patterns and processes. Persistence of coastal wetlands will be determined by the interactions of climate and anthropogenic effects, especially how humans respond to rising sea level and how further human encroachment on coastal wetlands affects resource exploitation, pollution, and water use. Long-term changes in the frequency, intensity, timing, and distribution of hurricanes and tropical storms will likely affect biotic functions (e.g., community structure, natural selection, extinction rates, and biodiversity) as well as underlying processes such as nutrient cycling and primary and secondary productivity.

Reliable predictions of global-change impacts on coastal wetlands will require better understanding of the linkages among terrestrial, aquatic, wetland, atmospheric, oceanic, and human components. Developing this comprehensive understanding of the ecological ramifications of global change will necessitate close coordination among scientists from multiple disciplines and a balanced mixture of appropriate scientific approaches. For example, insights may be gained through the careful design and implementation of broad-scale comparative studies that incorporate salient patterns and processes, including treatment of anthropogenic influences. Well-designed, broad-scale comparative studies could serve as the scientific framework for developing relevant and focused long-term ecological research, monitoring programs, experiments, and modeling studies. Two conceptual models of broad-scale comparative research for assessing ecological responses to climate change are presented: utilizing space-for-time substitution coupled with long-term studies to assess impacts of rising sea level and disturbance on coastal wetlands, and utilizing the moisture-continuum model for assessing the effects of global change and associated shifts in moisture regimes on wetland ecosystems. Increased understanding of climate change will require concerted scientific efforts aimed at facilitating interdisciplinary research, enhancing data and information management, and developing new funding strategies.

Climate change, hurricanes and tropical storms, and rising sea level in coastal wetlands

Biodiversity is a challenging field of research. Approaches are manifold and mostly cover few aspects of the total wealth of phenomena only. The mapping of the vascular plants and the inventory of Basidiomycota in Bavaria are projects to be mentioned in this context as one part of the commitment of the author. In the following article the author describes further activities during his lifework in regard A. Bresinsky (*) Institute of Botany of University of Regensburg, D-93040, Regensburg, Germany e-mail: abresinsky@t-online.de U. Lüttge et al. (eds.), Progress in Botany, Progress in Botany 75, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-38797-5_1, © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 3 to ant–plant interactions resulting in dispersal and distribution of plants, and moreover, in respect to speciation and to evolution of high ranked taxa within the fungi, discussed mainly in relation to the genus Pleurotus and the order Boletales. In fungi the investigations include breeding systems, isolation barriers, polyploidy, pigment patterns and DNA phylogeny. The pigment patterning in Boletales correlates well with the phylogeny as revealed by DNA analysis of selected gene sections.

Progress in Botany

This paper presents a critical review on nitrogen (N) transformations functioning in flooded soils and sediments, and their role in N loss from the system. Nitrogen transformations reviewed include (1) ammonification (organic ? ammonium N) (2) nitrification (ammonium ? nitrate), (3) ammonia volatilization (ammonium N ? NH3), (4) denitrification (nitrate ? gaseous products N2O and N2). Transport processes reviewed were ammonium and nitrate diffusion. Inorganic N in flooded soils and sediments and waters is converted to gaseous forms by two processes, i.e., (1) nitrification‐denitrification; and (2) NH3 volatilization. The former process seems to be more predominantly involved in the ammonium N loss from the sediments, whereas the latter process occurs under specialized conditions, mainly in the overlying waters. The processes involved in converting organic N to gaseous end products include ammonification of organic N to ammonium N, upward diffusion of ammonium N into the aerobic soil layer, oxidation of am...

Nitrogen transformations and loss in flooded soils and sediments

Preface. Symbols. Abbreviations. Atomic weights. Soils in pond aquaculture. Physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties of soils. Soil nutrients. Exchange of dissolved substances between soil and water. Soil organic matter, anaerobic respiration and oxidation-reduction. Sediment. Relationships to aquatic animal production. Pond bottom management. Pond bottom soil analyses.

W. H. Patrick

Papers

Characterization of the Oxidized and Reduced Zones in Flooded Soil1