Water Seminar

Water Resources Seminar:

Role of Coastal Wetlands in Reducing Impacts of Land-Based Pollutants

Coastal wetlands are among the most productive, valuable, and yet most threatened ecosystems in the world. They provide a variety of functions that reduce the impact of land-based management on coastal zones such as slowing the flow of water from the mountains to the sea, trapping of sediments, and retaining or transforming nutrients. They are located at a critical interface between the terrestrial and the marine environment and are ideally positioned to reduced impacts from land-based sources.

This talk will review the various types of coastal wetlands including riparian wetlands, tidal freshwater marshes, tidal salt marshes, and mangroves and examine the influence these wetlands have on surface water quality with a focus on three key processes: sedimentation, denitrification, and phosphorus (P) sorption.

I will also discuss two case study examples of water quality in coastal wetlands in Hawai'i. The first involves an investigation of P sorption dynamics in Hawaiian coastal wetland soils and the second focuses on the effects of non-native fish populations on nutrient levels in surface waters of Hawaiian wetlands. Throughout the talk I will show how these systems can retain, transform, or sometimes act as sources of sediments and nutrients to the coastal zone. As the world's coastal population is expected to approach 6 billion people by 2025, the ability to understand, manage, protect, and restore these coastal wetland ecosystems is becoming increasingly important.

Event Sponsor
Water Resources Research Center, Manoa Campus

More Information
Philip Moravcik, 956-3097, morav@hawaii.edu, http://www.wrrc.hawaii.edu/seminars/brulandseminar.htm