Characterizing rocky intertidal communities to assess resilience and inform management and conservation

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: James Dimond (Western Washington University)

CO-INVESTIGATORS: Peter Raimondi (University of California Santa Cruz), Jennifer Burnaford (California State University Fullerton), Steven Fradkin (Olympic National Park)

Predictions for Sea Level Rise (SLR) in Washington vary by region but are estimated to be between 0.3 and 2.5 meters above current levels by 2100 (Miller et al, 2018). These projections pose immense social, economic, and ecological challenges with respect to the management and conservation of human and biological coastal ecosystems. Understanding the ecological consequences is particularly challenging because of the lack of information about the relationship between SLR, habitat availability, and species’ associations with habitat. Nowhere is this truer than for coastal areas subject to tidal influence, such as rocky intertidal systems.

This project proposes to collect key information needed to predict SLR impacts on rocky intertidal habitat availability in order to better understand the potential for resilience in species dependent on this habitat. Researchers will use this information to develop a predictive model and publicly accessible mapping tool that can be used to display predictions about how different SLR scenarios will affect rocky intertidal species’ abundance and distribution. Deliverables will benefit stakeholders ranging from resource managers needing to make decisions about how to best mitigate for expected changes to subsistence harvesters who can use the projections to plan for shifts in the distribution and abundance of harvested species.