Cell data - Linear and nonlinear effects of temperature and precipitation on ecosystem properties in tidal saline wetlands
type: Dataset
description: Macroclimatic drivers, such as temperature and rainfall regimes, greatly influence ecosystem structure and function in tidal saline wetlands. Understanding the ecological influence of macroclimatic drivers is important because it provides a foundation for anticipating the effects of climate change. Tidal saline wetlands include mangrove forests, salt marshes, and salt flats, which occupy similar geomorphic settings but different climatic regimes. However, most global- or regional-scale analyses have treated these wetlands as independent systems. Here we used climate and literature-derived ecological data from all three systems, collected across targeted regional-scale macroclimatic gradients, to test hypotheses regarding macroclimatic controls of tidal saline wetland ecosystem properties, specifically canopy height, above-ground biomass, productivity, decomposition, soil carbon density, and soil carbon accumulation. We quantified region-specific climate based ecological thresholds for three data-rich transition zones including eastern North America, eastern Australia, and western Gulf of Mexico. The results of our analyses suggest that small macroclimatic changes might have large ecological implications near climatic thresholds. Our results also demonstrate that relationships between macroclimatic drivers and the ecosystem attributes of tidal saline wetlands are likely to be region-specific. The ecosystem-climate linkages revealed by our analysis should help to characterize important climatic thresholds for ecological regime shifts and could also be used to identify and target for conservation critical transition areas that may be especially sensitive to climate change.
issued: 2025-11-22T16:56:34.295956
modified: 20200831
spatial: Location
contact point: Organization
  fn: Laura C Feher
keyword: above-ground-biomass
keyword: amerigeo
keyword: amerigeoss
keyword: canopy-height
keyword: ckan
keyword: climate-change
keyword: climate-gradients
keyword: climatic-drivers
keyword: climatic-thresholds
keyword: ecological-thresholds
keyword: environment
keyword: geo
keyword: geoss
keyword: mangrove-forests
keyword: national
keyword: north-america
keyword: productivity
keyword: rainfall
keyword: salt-flats
keyword: salt-marshes
keyword: soil-carbon
keyword: temperature
keyword: united-states
keyword: usgs-593ffa73e4b0764e6c6310e8
theme: {geospatial}

Original Metadata
type: Distribution
description: The metadata original format
format: XML
issued: 2022-07-07T15:34:04.481863
modified: 2025-11-22T16:56:34.282756
access URL: https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.593ffa73e4b0764e6c6310e8.xml
media type: text/xml

Digital Data
type: Distribution
description: Landing page for access to the data
format: XML
issued: 2022-07-07T15:34:04.481871
modified: 2025-11-22T16:56:34.283192
access URL: https://doi.org/10.5066/F7S180QJ
media type: application/http

US Migrating
type: Agent