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Reef Innovations

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Get to work on restoring salt marsh!

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https://reefinnovations.com/archives/4046

With more research showing the value of salt marsh we find they are important for carbon sequestration as well as protection from rising sea levels.

This report from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science  points to the resilience of salt marshes.



 

  • High and Low Marsh

Study predicts salt marshes will persist despite rising seas

by David Malmquist |  February 24, 2016
Says traditional assessment methods overestimate vulnerability

A new study in Nature Climate Change contends that traditional assessment methods overestimate the vulnerability of salt marshes to sea-level rise because they don’t fully account for processes that allow the marshes to grow vertically and migrate landward as water levels increase.

The persistence of salt marshes despite rising seas would be a rare bit of good news for coastal ecosystems, which are under threat from a host of factors including nutrient pollution, invasive species, and development. Healthy marshes buffer coasts from storms, improve water quality, provide habitat for commercial fisheries, and help fight global warming by trapping carbon.

Lead author Matt Kirwan, a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, says “Catastrophic predictions of marsh loss appear alarming, but they stem from simple models that don’t simulate the dynamic feedbacks that allow marshes to adapt not only to present rates of sea-level rise but the accelerated rates predicted for coming decades. Marsh soils actually build much faster as marshes become more flooded.”

Low-elevation marshes are where dynamic feedbacks operate most effectively to counter sea-level rise. ©M. Kirwan.
Low-elevation marshes are where dynamic feedbacks operate most effectively to counter sea-level rise. ©M. Kirwan.

More frequent flooding carries more mud into the marsh and also encourages the growth of several common marsh plants. Together, these processes raise the marsh soil in concert with rising waters.By not accounting for these feedbacks, Kirwan and his co-authors argue, traditional assessments greatly underestimate marsh resilience. Joining Kirwan on the study were Stijn Temmerman of the University of Antwerpen, Emily Skeehan of VIMS, Glenn Guntenspergen of the U.S. Geological Survey, and Sergio Fagherazzi of Boston University.

The team conducted their study by compiling and re-analyzing 179 previously published records of change in marsh elevation from sites in North America and Europe. “Our study shows that soil accretion rates more than double as marshes become more flooded, suggesting a strong ability for marshes to survive accelerations in sea-level rise,” says Kirwan.

“The most common models greatly overestimate marsh vulnerability to sea-level rise,” adds Guntenspergen. “These models assume that marshes rise, but only at a rate equal to recent measurements of marsh accretion. This approach leads inevitably to marsh drowning, and predictions that most tidal wetlands will be inundated by the end of the current century.”

The researchers say the few models that do incorporate dynamic feedbacks indicate that marshes can generally survive 10 to 50 millimeters of sea-level rise per year. That far exceeds current annual rates of about 3 millimeters of globally averaged sea-level rise, and mostly exceeds even the higher-end rates of 8 to 17 millimeters per year predicted by U.N. climate scientists for 2100.

The team suggests that use of these more advanced models will help ecosystem managers assess marsh vulnerability more accurately, and should be encouraged. They also recommend that researchers expand their current focus on the vertical adaptability of marshes by mounting studies that help clarify the processes that control the horizontal migration of marsh boundaries through time.

Looking at recent history, the researchers note that the feedbacks built into the dynamic models also help explain the observed stability of many salt marshes in the mid-Atlantic and elsewhere during recent decades, and the relative rarity of marshes that have already drowned. Where drowned marshes do occur—think the Mississippi delta or Venice lagoon—the culprit is a reduced sediment supply, due to dam or levee building, or increased subsidence due to groundwater withdrawal and other factors.

High-elevation marshes are more vulnerable to sea-level rise, but grow more resilient as they succumb to rising waters and are replaced by low marsh. ©M. Kirwan.
High-elevation marshes are more vulnerable to sea-level rise, but grow more resilient as they succumb to rising waters and are replaced by low marsh. ©M. Kirwan.

“Marshes fail to survive current rates of sea-level rise only where people have restricted sediment delivery or where the tidal range is very low,” says Kirwan.The researchers temper their optimism regarding vertical marsh growth with a cautionary note about the importance of allowing salt marshes to migrate horizontally as rising seas push them landward. They note that in low-lying areas of the U.S. Atlantic Coast, migration into nearby forests could offset most of the loss of existing salt marshes.

But marsh migration isn’t possible where obstructed by coastal cliffs or human barriers. “Almost 20% of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline is hardened by riprap, seawalls, and other structures,” says Kirwan, “and similar structures border almost all marsh areas in northwest Europe. We suggest that the availability of low-lying land for wetland migration is a first-order determinant of marsh fate.”

 

Retreived from: http://www.vims.edu/newsandevents/topstories/salt_marsh_resilience.php

 

March 9, 2016 Reef Innovations

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  • Home
  • About
    • The Reef Ball Foundation
    • Eternal Reefs
    • RI Info
  • Products & Specs
    • Reef Balls
      • Oyster Ball
      • Lo-Pro
      • Mini Bay
      • Bay Ball
      • Pallet Ball
      • Ultra Reef Ball
      • Super Ball
      • Supra Ball
      • Goliath Ball
      • Goliath Ball Modification
      • Goliath Breakwater Ring
      • Goliath Breakwater with Base
      • Goliath with Extended Tall Base
      • Reef Ball on Sloped Base
      • Table Top
      • Model Reef Balls
    • Layer Cakes
      • Oyster Layer Cake
      • Lo-Pro Layer Cake
      • Mini Layer Cake
      • Bay Layer Cake
      • Ultra Layer Cake
      • Pallet Layer Cake
      • Super Layer Cake
      • Goliath Layer Cake
    • Reef Cubes
      • A Cube
      • B Cube
      • C Cube
      • D Cube
      • E Cube
      • 2 tier Reef Cube
      • 3 tier Reef Cube
      • 4 tier Reef Cube
      • 5 tier Reef Cube
      • Reef Cube with attached Reef Ball
    • Other Modules
      • Anchor
      • Chanel Marker Habitat
      • Deep Cover
      • Eco-Rap
      • Juvenile Habitat IJV
      • Mangrove Cultivating Pot
      • Smart Reef
    • Product Price List
  • Ecosystem/Services
    • Blue Carbon Credits
    • Breakwater Construction
    • Breakwater Design
    • Deployment
    • Design & Consulting
      • Site Evaluation & Surveys
      • Custom Designs & Models
    • Diving Services
    • Ecosystem Restoration
      • Coral
      • Living Shoreline / Living Breakwaters
        • Erosion Control Project – Checklist
      • Mangrove Restoration
      • Oyster Reefs
        • Reef Balls produce more oysters.
      • Docks & Along Seawalls – A great place for Reef Balls
    • Habitats
      • Deep Cover Protective Habitat
      • EFH = Essential Fish Habitat
      • Layer Cake Lobster Habitat
      • Micro Habitat
      • Under Dock Habitats
      • Use of Reef Balls in River’s
    • Monitoring
    • Reef Ball Training & QC
    • Side Scan Sonar & DGPS
    • Volunteer Projects
  • Projects
    • Africa – Jambiani 2015
    • Atlantic Ocean Western
      • Bahamas
        • Bahamas – Baha Mar 2014 Cable Beach
        • Castaway Cay – Disney Crewesline
        • Deadman’s Reef Snorkeling the Reef Balls
        • Paradise Cove Grand Bahamas
        • Halfmoon Cay
        • Coco Cay
      • Canada
      • Caribbean Reef Balls
        • Antigua
        • Barbados
        • Dominican Republic
          • Cadaques
          • GRAN DOMINICUS BEACH RESORT
          • Canola Hilton Submerged Reef Ball Breakwater
        • Curacao
        • Jamaica
        • Antigua
        • St Maarten
      • Grand Caymen
      • Montserrat
        • Monstserrat
      • Nova Scotia
      • Turks & Caicos Islands
        • Beaches – Reef Ball Project
        • Providenciales
        • Smiths Reef
        • Pine Cay
        • Grand Turk
    • Europe
    • Mediterranean Sea
      • Spain
      • Italy
    • Mexico
      • Mayan Palace Submerged Breakwater
    • Middle East
      • Bahrain – Reef Arabia
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Bahrain
    • Pacific Ocean – Western
      • Indonesia – Reef Balls
      • Malaysia
        • Talang Talang
        • Sabah
        • Photos from Malaysia
    • US – West Coast
      • Alaska — Reef Balls in ALASKA
      • California
        • Point Pinole Regional Shoreline
        • Reef Ball Reef designed has for California 2013
        • Santa Barbara
        • Reef Ball Reef designed for California
    • US – North East
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        • Stratford Point
      • Maryland
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          • Cooks Point – Reef Balls
        • Stevenson Reef Ball Project
        • Cook Point Reef Ball Site
        • Ocean City
        • Bay Area
        • Perry Hall
        • Talbot County
      • Massachusetts
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        • Bay Keepers Oyster Restoration Program
        • Jamaica Bay
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          • Port Charlotte
        • Collier
          • Naples
        • Dade County Reef Balls
          • Biscayne Bay
          • Loucif Project
        • Dixie County Reef Balls
        • Duval County
          • Charles H Kirbo Reef
          • St Johns River
        • Escambia Count Reef Balls
          • Laars Reef Ball Site
          • Pensacola
        • Flagler County Reef Balls
        • Franklin Count Reef Balls
        • Hernando Co.
          • Hernando County Reef 2017
        • Hillsborough Co.
          • Alafia Banks Bird Sanctuary
        • Indian River
        • Lee County
          • Ft. Myers
          • Midigation Projects
          • Ft. Myers / Naples
          • Cape Coral
        • Manatee Co.
          • Palmetto Eco-Rap
            • 2016 Palmetto Living Seawall Deployment
        • Monroe County
          • Islamarada
        • Oculina Bank home to 105 Reef Balls
        • Okaloosa County Reef Balls
        • Pinellas County
          • Largo
          • Clearwater
          • Maderia Beach
          • St. Petersburg
          • Treasure Island
        • Plam Beach
        • Santa Rosa
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          • Anglers Reef Sarasota, Florida
        • Seminole
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        • Tampa
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          • Tampa Bay Watch
          • MacDill AFB Shore Enhancement
        • Volusia County Reef Balls
          • Daytona
      • Georga
      • Levy County – Nature Coast Biological Station
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        • Lake Pontchartrain
      • Mississippi
        • FH-6
        • FH-8, FH-9, FH-10, & Cat Island
        • Mississippi FH2
      • South Carolina
        • Charleston
        • Myrtle Beach
      • Tennessee – Fish Habitat
      • North Carolina
        • Long Beach Pier, NC
        • Topsail Reef
        • Wilmington
        • Morris Landing Holly Ridge NC
        • North Carolina – South River Construction Site
        • Englehard, NC
        • Wanchese
        • Town of Oriental, North Carolina
        • Brunswick CO.
        • Topsail Island
      • Texas Projects
        • Galveston
        • Moses Lake
        • Texas – Oyster Lake
        • S Padre Island
        • Baytown
  • Science / Reference
    • Best Practices using Reef Balls on Living Shorelines.
    • Educational Projects with High School / Middle School Students
    • Photos
    • Posters
    • Presentations
      • J McFarlane’s Slide Decks from Presentations
    • Research Papers
      • Breakwater Research
      • Nutrient Enrichment increases severity of coral diseases and bleaching
      • Research – Coral Reefs Soften Ocean’s Fury for Millions of Coastal Dwellers
    • Research site specific, projects using Reef Balls
      • Breakwater Research using Reef Balls
      • Estuary Research projects using Reef Balls
    • Sharks & Reef Balls
    • Restore Act Science Program
    • Video’s
    • Sarasota Weather
  • Links
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