Warming threatens crucial Fraser habitat, study says

The Fraser River delta could lose up to one-third of its tidal marshes -- critical habitat for both juvenile salmon and waterfowl -- during this century due to rising sea levels resulting from global warming, a study published in the journal Global and Planetary Change warns.

Associate professor Brad Murray and graduate student Matthew Kirwan of the School of Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University in North Carolina based their conclusion on studies of the brackish intertidal marshes at Westham Island near Ladner in South Delta.

Computer modeling based on factors such as vegetation growth, sediment transport from the Fraser River and wave erosion suggests that under a scenario of mildly rising sea levels (at the current rate of one millimetre per year) the delta marshes should be fine over the next century.
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