Coastal habitat and community responses to tropical cyclones in a temperate, sub-tropical estuary

HERS, Hurricane Ecosystem Response Synthesis Research Coordination Network, 
monthly webinar

Speaker: Dr. Yin San Stacy Zhang 

Abstract: Major storms can alter coastal ecosystem structure and functioning in a multitude of direct and  indirect ways including habitat destruction, stormwater-related water-quality degradation, and  mortality of marine organisms, among others. From 2010-2020, multiple hurricanes of varying intensities impacted the southern Outer Banks of North Carolina. Using a combination of  monthly trawls and contemporaneous seagrass and oyster reef surveys, we examined habitat  continuity and changes in seagrass-associated fish communities to evaluate whether these  disturbances changed the nursery role of shallow-water biogenic habitats. Our analysis revealed that fish catch may be depressed for roughly two weeks after storm passage but over longer time frames, appeared largely similar to corresponding no-storm years. The overall resilience exhibited by fishes was likely underpinned by the relative stability of the seagrass habitat itself, which appeared principally undamaged by storms. However, storm intensity plays a large role in overall storm effect, as the greatest magnitude cyclone in our observation period,  Hurricane Florence, not only damaged oyster reefs that had previously been unaffected by  earlier cyclones but also caused the greatest decline in fish catches. These findings suggest that fish communities and coastal habitats may be insensitive to mild tropical cyclones, but a pressing question appears to be whether they will remain resilient to storm impacts if the frequency and intensity of these disturbances increase as one syndrome of global climate change. 

Registration: https://bit.ly/HERSwebinarSZhang

UPCOMING WEBINARS 

November 16th, 2021 @ 1:00 – 2:00 pm U.S. eastern time (free registration HERE)
Dr. Cal Buelo presents “Quantifying disturbance and recovery in estuaries: tropical cyclones and high frequency measures of oxygen and salinity”

December 7th, 2021 @ 10:00 – 11:00 am U.S. eastern time (free registration HERE) 
Dr. Hans Paerl presents “The “new normal” high rainfall tropical cyclones: Linkage to harmful cyanobacterial bloom expansion into estuarine and coastal waters”