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Climate change-induced salinity variation impacts on a stenoecious mangrove species in the Indian Sundarbans

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the project entitled “Vulnerability Assessment and development of adaptation strategies for Climate Change impacts with special reference to coasts and island ecosystems of India (VACCIN)” for undertaking the field works in the remote islands of Indian Sundarbans.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biodiversity & Conservation of Natural Resources, Central University of Orissa, Landiguda, Koraput, Odisha, 764020, India

    Kakoli Banerjee

  2. Biological Diversity and Ecology Laboratory, Bio-Clim-Land Centre of Excellence, Biological Institute, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, Russia, 634050

    Roberto Cazzolla Gatti

  3. Department of Marine Science, University of Calcutta, 35, B.C. Road, Kolkata, 700019, India

    Abhijit Mitra

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  1. Kakoli Banerjee
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  2. Roberto Cazzolla Gatti
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Correspondence to Roberto Cazzolla Gatti.

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Banerjee, K., Gatti, R.C. & Mitra, A. Climate change-induced salinity variation impacts on a stenoecious mangrove species in the Indian Sundarbans. Ambio 46, 492–499 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0839-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-016-0839-9

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