Title
Coastal wetland responses to a century of climate change in northern Sahara, Morocco
Date Issued
01 February 2022
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Nogueira J.
Evangelista H.
Bouchaou L.
Moreira L.
ElMouden A.
Msanda F.
Caquineau S.
Briceño-Zuluaga F.J.
Licínio M.V.
Mandeng-Yogo M.
Mendez-Millan M.
Cordeiro R.C.
Knoppers B.
Moreira-Ramírez M.
Martins R.
Sorbonne Universite
Publisher(s)
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
Abstract
Coastal wetlands are highly sensitive to changes occurring at the coastline. It is critically important to determine region-specific projections for these areas due to their specificities and vulnerabilities to climate change. This work aimed to value the impacts of recent climate changes at West Africa Sahara coastland, southern Morocco, at Khnifiss Lagoon. We have applied a combined approach using remote sensing techniques and environmental reconstructions based on high-resolution analysis of sediment cores, covering the current warm period. Remote sensing highlighted changes to the lagoon inlet, accompanied by a greater meandering character of the tidal channels. As a response, the sediment cores have recorded a predominant vegetation substitution due to changes in the tidal limit, and an increase in organic carbon accumulation was observed. For the current climatology, during positive phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation, winds reaching the coast strengthen in an east-to-west direction. In the Khnifiss Lagoon, whose inlet is dominated by the ebb tide, the intensity and direction of the winds on the coast at surface level modifies its connection to the ocean by increasing sediment transport toward the interior of the lagoon. Locally biological responses to wind intensification, and possibly sea-level rise, exemplify the lagoon sensitivity to large-scale processes. Coastal vegetated wetlands are considered to be highly dynamic environments. However, we expect a loss of the upper tidal vegetation due to boundary conditions limiting the accommodation space in this arid environment in a possible future scenario of continuously inland tidal line displacement.
Start page
285
End page
299
Volume
67
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Oceanografía, Hidrología, Recursos hídricos
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85120178719
Source
Limnology and Oceanography
Sponsor(s)
The authors acknowledged the Labgis system at the Rio de Janeiro State University, which together with local PCI Geomatica representation, supported the development of the remote sensing methodology. Thanks are also due to the French Research Institute for Development (IRD) for the facilities, personal, and financial support in the sample analysis, and field excursion. We also appreciate Ibn Zohr for hospitality and support during the development of this thesis. Elemental and isotopic analyses were performed at the ALYSES platform, at the Institute of Research for Development ‐ IRD (Bondy, France). Thanks are also due to the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague for the financial support regarding the publication of this manuscript. Finally, the authors thank for the valuable inputs of the anonymous reviewers. The authors would like to thank the financial support provided by the CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) and CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) through the primary author's scholarship and project development (CNPQ 457400/2012‐9), respectively. L.B. acknowledges the support from CHARISMA Project with the assistance of the Hassan II Academy of Sciences, Morocco.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus