Chapter 4 Habitats
Table 4.2.14-1. Climate change to other threats to estuarine aquatic communities. Threat Rank Order Comments
1 Loss of SAV beds or meadows reduces connectivity between spawning areas, primary nursery areas, and water column habitats for larval, juvenile, and adult aquatic species (DiBacco et al. 2006) . 2 Hardened shorelines will prevent natural migration of marsh habitats toward inland areas as inundation occurs from rising sea levels. Use of natural and living shorelines should be encouraged and regulatory impediments removed. 2 Low flow conditions can occur due to drought, hydraulic drawdown, and upstream impoundment. Reductions in freshwater inputs from rivers and tributaries will allow influence salinities. Saltwater intrusion and concentrations upstream are likely to increase. Occurrence of temperature stratification and anoxic conditions are likely to increase. 3 Mineral mining, gas and oil exploration, and wind energy turbines will damage bottoms, introduce contaminants into the water column, and displace species assemblages through loss of habitat. 3 Climate change impacts will be cumulative and, to some degree, mitigation options are limited. Mobile species can be expected to disperse to more favorable conditions. 4 Warmer water can allow range expansion of nonnative species into open waters previously not colonized. 5 Dams block the passage of diadromous fish species and limit access to upstream spawning habitat for anadromous fish species.
SAV Loss
Shoreline Hardening
Baseflow Reductions
Offshore Development
Climate Change
Invasive Species
Infrastructure
4.2.14.5 Impacts to Wildlife Appendix 3 includes a list of SGCN and species for which there are knowledge gap and management concern priorities. Appendix 3-18 identifies non-marine SGCN and federally listed protected marine species that use estuarine aquatic communities. Seagrass habitats are one of the most productive systems in the world, providing not only cover and forage resources for numerous organisms but also as an important carbon dioxide sink relative to other terrestrial and aquatic habitats (NCDEQ 2021) . In North Carolina, annual Eelgrass beds are common in shallow, protected estuarine waters in the winter and spring when water temperatures are cooler. The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council reports 40 species of fish and invertebrates have been captured on seagrass beds in North Carolina. Larval and juvenile fish and shellfish such as Gray Trout, Red Drum, Spotted Seatrout, Summer and Southern Flounder, Blue Crabs,
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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