Short-term coastal forest responses to a hurricane-scale freshwater and saltwater flooding experiment

Abstract

Coastal upland forests are exposed to intensifying precipitation regimes and sea level rise, increasing tree mortality and transforming these coastal forests into wetland ecosystems. While the ultimate outcome of long-term exposure to these perturbations is known to be an ecosystem state change from upland forest to wetland, the resistance of forests to the first novel exposure to flooding and salinity is relatively unknown. The Terrestrial Ecosystem Manipulation to Probe the Effects of Storm Treatments (TEMPEST) experiment uses ecosystem-scale (2000 m2) experimental flooding plots to decouple two distinct disturbances associated with hydrological extremes: (1) freshwater saturation of soils and flooding (e.g., from heavy precipitation) and (2) salinization from storm surge by saturating and flooding soils with brackish water. Here we describe the immediate effects of the experimental flooding treatments on hydrologic, biogeochemical and vegetation ecosystem components following the first novel experimental ecosystem-scale flooding event in TEMPEST. Following a 9-hour experimental treatment, the system’s hydrology was temporarily and significantly impacted, but there were subtle effects on biogeochemical and vegetation components of the ecosystem. This suggests that this temperate deciduous forest was resistant to a single novel flooding event, even if the water is saline. Most biogeochemical parameters monitored in the soil, porewater, and groundwater responded similarly between freshwater and saltwater treatments relative to the control plot. However, we show that even a single episodic event can cause large transient shifts in belowground conditions that drive physiological changes in coastal forest functions, such as soil moisture and oxygen levels. Such responses may impact how the system responds to future perturbations.