Project Leader: Prof Koh Hock Lye
Mangroves provide critically essential services to many ecosystems, wildlife and human. However, mangroves are vulnerable to climate change impact, to anthropogenic activities and to catastrophic coastal disturbances. Amongst the various climate change scenarios, sea level rise (SLR) poses the greatest threat to mangroves. Extensive coastal reclamation and unrestrained development can alter the local coastal habitats to make them unsuitable to mangroves. Large coastal disturbances such as tsunamis and other extreme storm surges induced by hurricanes and typhoons can instantly destroy mangroves at a large scale. Warming climate has increased the frequency, duration and intensity of these coastal disturbances. This project compiles global data relevant to impacts of climate change on coastal resources and performs model-based simulations to improve the state of art knowledge of mangrove vulnerability and resilience to climate change and to propose climate change adaptation strategy. Adaptation strategy includes integrated coastal zone management best practices that incorporate adequate provision to facilitate mangrove protection, survival and landward migration with SLR. Numerical simulations and site monitoring are performed for analysing the impact of climate change on the interaction between mangroves and functionally linked ecosystems such as the hardwood hammocks (Figure 2). State of the art simulation model MANTRA-O18 is developed to provide early warning signals to catastrophic regime shifts that can pose serious threats to coastal surface and groundwater resources critical to the survival of coastal populations (Teh et al., 2018 a, b). Research collaborators include the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM), Miami University, USGS, and Nanjing Forestry University. This research addresses SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 14 (Life under water) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals).
Publications:
- Teh, S.Y., Koh, H.L., DeAngelis, D.L., Voss, C.I. and Sternberg, L. (2018a). Modeling δ18O as an early indicator of regime shift arising from salinity stress in coastal vegetation. Hydrogeology Journal (ISI IF: 2.071), Accepted with minor revision.
- Koh, H.L., Teh, S.Y., Kh’ng, X.Y. and Barizan, R.S.R. (2018). Mangrove Forests: Protection Against and Resilience to Coastal Disturbances. Journal Tropical Forest Science 30 (Anniversary Issue): 446–460 (2018). IF 0.655.
- Romañach, S.S., DeAngelis, D.L., Koh, H.L., Li, Y., Teh, S.Y., Raja Barizan, R.S. and Zhai, L. (2018). Conservation and Restoration of Mangroves: Global Status, Perspectives, and Prognosis. Ocean and Coastal Management 154, 72-82, Elsevier. (ISI Journal, IF: 2.276) DOI: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2018.01.009
- Teh, S.Y., DeAngelis, D.L., Voss, C.I., Sternberg, L. and Koh, H.L. (2018b). MANTRA-O18: An Extended Version of SUTRA Modified to Simulate Salt and δ18O Transport amid Water Uptake by Plants. E3S Web of Conferences (Online journal indexed in ISI).
