2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
5/24/2021 | 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM | CLIMATE CHANGE PREDICTIONS FOR THE CARIBBEAN AND POTENTIAL EFFECTS ON TROPICAL STREAM ECOSYSTEMS | Virtual Platform
CLIMATE CHANGE PREDICTIONS FOR THE CARIBBEAN AND POTENTIAL EFFECTS ON TROPICAL STREAM ECOSYSTEMS
Freshwater ecosystems are expected to face major impacts from our changing climate. Understanding how streams might respond is critical, in particular in the tropics where we have limited information. Here, we (1) summarize current information of climate change projections in the Caribbean region, and (2) discuss potential stream ecosystem responses in coastal and mountain areas. We conducted a literature review of climate projections for the Caribbean and used our studies in Costa Rica (coastal streams with different groundwater inputs) and Puerto Rico (mountain ecosystems) to assess potential responses to those projections. Projected changes include increases in air temperature and drought events, and mean precipitation is expected to decrease. Among these changes, droughts could have a more significant effect as they are unusual in rainy regions. Responses in coastal ecosystems are potentially related to the change of the stream chemical composition related to groundwater inputs. In mountain streams, drought reduces connectivity along the channel creating isolated pools more similar to lentic ecosystems. In conclusion, we expect reduced precipitation to be the major impact associated with climate change in the Caribbean, with contrasting responses between coastal and mountain streams.
- Tropical
- Stream
- Ecosystem
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Presenters/Authors
Ana Maria Meza Salazar
(), North Carolina State University, ammezasa@ncsu.edu;
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Alonso RamÃrez
(), North Carolina State University, alonso.ramirez@ncsu.edu;
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