You Can Bend Me but Can’t Break Me: Vegetation Regeneration After Hurricane María Passed Over an Urban Coastal Wetland in Northeastern Puerto Rico

Tropical urban coastal wetland regeneration is complex. Wetland plant biodiversity varies due to past and present land use, nutrient inputs, hydrological conditions, and terrestrial/marine connectivity. The intensity of atmospheric disturbances, such as hurricanes, will determine these systems’ leve...

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Autores principales:	Elix Hernández, Elvira Cuevas, Solimar Pinto-Pacheco, Gloria Ortíz-Ramírez
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	urban wetlands hurricanes plant functional types SUAV Puerto Rico coastal wetlands Forestry SD1-669.5 Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/bd0b03bd274a4d69bdea5ff1401a238a
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:bd0b03bd274a4d69bdea5ff1401a238a2021-11-19T07:11:49ZYou Can Bend Me but Can’t Break Me: Vegetation Regeneration After Hurricane María Passed Over an Urban Coastal Wetland in Northeastern Puerto Rico2624-893X10.3389/ffgc.2021.752328https://doaj.org/article/bd0b03bd274a4d69bdea5ff1401a238a2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2021.752328/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/2624-893XTropical urban coastal wetland regeneration is complex. Wetland plant biodiversity varies due to past and present land use, nutrient inputs, hydrological conditions, and terrestrial/marine connectivity. The intensity of atmospheric disturbances, such as hurricanes, will determine these systems’ level of disturbance and regeneration capacity. On September 20, 2017, category 4 hurricane María passed over Puerto Rico, leaving behind a path of destruction across the entire island, especially in coastal ecosystems, from the combined effects of winds, severe storm surges, and urban runoff. Our question was: to what extent do human-influenced coastal urban wetlands regenerate after such a massive event. This study determines the spatio-temporal regeneration dynamics of plant cover and composition during the first 2 years after hurricane María in a coastal urban wetland, ciénaga Las Cucharillas, located in San Juan Bay. We assessed the distribution of plant functional types using small unmanned aerial vehicles (s-UAV) and monitored climate and environmental data (salinity, phreatic water levels, and precipitation). Wetland vegetation cover had a high recovery rate – 16 months after the hurricane, vegetation cover occupied 87% of the study area. We found a successional pattern of plant regeneration that seemed to be partly explained by the fast-slow continuum. Plants with high specific leaf area (SLA) colonized bare soil spaces first. Plant regeneration also varied according to changes in phreatic water conductivity and waterlogging. Isotopic analyses of plant species signaled high nutrient availability, increasing the system’s regeneration speed. After 2 years, the wetland’s plant cover and composition of functional plant types proved resilient to the initial hurricane effect and subsequent changes in conductivity and freshwater conditions. Further studies will expand how spatio-temporal conditions will affect long-term plant community dynamics.Elix HernándezElvira CuevasSolimar Pinto-PachecoGloria Ortíz-RamírezFrontiers Media S.A.articleurban wetlandshurricanesplant functional typesSUAVPuerto Ricocoastal wetlandsForestrySD1-669.5Environmental sciencesGE1-350ENFrontiers in Forests and Global Change, Vol 4 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	urban wetlands hurricanes plant functional types SUAV Puerto Rico coastal wetlands Forestry SD1-669.5 Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	urban wetlands hurricanes plant functional types SUAV Puerto Rico coastal wetlands Forestry SD1-669.5 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Elix Hernández Elvira Cuevas Solimar Pinto-Pacheco Gloria Ortíz-Ramírez You Can Bend Me but Can’t Break Me: Vegetation Regeneration After Hurricane María Passed Over an Urban Coastal Wetland in Northeastern Puerto Rico
description	Tropical urban coastal wetland regeneration is complex. Wetland plant biodiversity varies due to past and present land use, nutrient inputs, hydrological conditions, and terrestrial/marine connectivity. The intensity of atmospheric disturbances, such as hurricanes, will determine these systems’ level of disturbance and regeneration capacity. On September 20, 2017, category 4 hurricane María passed over Puerto Rico, leaving behind a path of destruction across the entire island, especially in coastal ecosystems, from the combined effects of winds, severe storm surges, and urban runoff. Our question was: to what extent do human-influenced coastal urban wetlands regenerate after such a massive event. This study determines the spatio-temporal regeneration dynamics of plant cover and composition during the first 2 years after hurricane María in a coastal urban wetland, ciénaga Las Cucharillas, located in San Juan Bay. We assessed the distribution of plant functional types using small unmanned aerial vehicles (s-UAV) and monitored climate and environmental data (salinity, phreatic water levels, and precipitation). Wetland vegetation cover had a high recovery rate – 16 months after the hurricane, vegetation cover occupied 87% of the study area. We found a successional pattern of plant regeneration that seemed to be partly explained by the fast-slow continuum. Plants with high specific leaf area (SLA) colonized bare soil spaces first. Plant regeneration also varied according to changes in phreatic water conductivity and waterlogging. Isotopic analyses of plant species signaled high nutrient availability, increasing the system’s regeneration speed. After 2 years, the wetland’s plant cover and composition of functional plant types proved resilient to the initial hurricane effect and subsequent changes in conductivity and freshwater conditions. Further studies will expand how spatio-temporal conditions will affect long-term plant community dynamics.
format	article
author	Elix Hernández Elvira Cuevas Solimar Pinto-Pacheco Gloria Ortíz-Ramírez
author_facet	Elix Hernández Elvira Cuevas Solimar Pinto-Pacheco Gloria Ortíz-Ramírez
author_sort	Elix Hernández
title	You Can Bend Me but Can’t Break Me: Vegetation Regeneration After Hurricane María Passed Over an Urban Coastal Wetland in Northeastern Puerto Rico
title_short	You Can Bend Me but Can’t Break Me: Vegetation Regeneration After Hurricane María Passed Over an Urban Coastal Wetland in Northeastern Puerto Rico
title_full	You Can Bend Me but Can’t Break Me: Vegetation Regeneration After Hurricane María Passed Over an Urban Coastal Wetland in Northeastern Puerto Rico
title_fullStr	You Can Bend Me but Can’t Break Me: Vegetation Regeneration After Hurricane María Passed Over an Urban Coastal Wetland in Northeastern Puerto Rico
title_full_unstemmed	You Can Bend Me but Can’t Break Me: Vegetation Regeneration After Hurricane María Passed Over an Urban Coastal Wetland in Northeastern Puerto Rico
title_sort	you can bend me but can’t break me: vegetation regeneration after hurricane maría passed over an urban coastal wetland in northeastern puerto rico
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/bd0b03bd274a4d69bdea5ff1401a238a
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You Can Bend Me but Can’t Break Me: Vegetation Regeneration After Hurricane María Passed Over an Urban Coastal Wetland in Northeastern Puerto Rico

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