Do hurricanes spur responses of coastal ecosystems to changing sea level?
Platt, William *,1, Liu, Kam-biu1, Battaglia, Loretta2, Whitbeck, Julie3, 1 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA2 Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL3 University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA ABSTRACT- Coastal landscapes in many regions of the world are influenced by both sea level rise and hurricanes. We hypothesize that, unlike more inland ecosystems, major hurricanes affecting coastal ecosystems experiencing ongoing sea level rise do not result in regeneration in situ. We propose, instead, that hurricanes spur landward regeneration, initiating shifts in species distributions. We further hypothesize that it is the short-term effects of major hurricanes that catalyze landward shifts in species distributions in coastal landscapes. We anticipate that disassembly resulting from physical effects of winds and storm surge interacts with biogeochemical changes from the storm surge to influence reassembly in the context of ongoing sea level rise. Such interactions should inf
