Properties of dune topographic state space for six barrier islands of the U.S. southeastern Atlantic coast

Monge, Jackie A.; Stallins, J. Anthony

doi:10.1080/02723646.2016.1230041

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Evidence that even U. paniculata can form continuous dune ridges is present on Sapelo Island, Georgia, US. The lack of a major hurricane strike in this region (Bossak et al, 2014) is manifest in the continuous ridge topography even though the foredune is dominated by U. paniculata (Monge and Stallins, 2016;Stallins, 2005;Stallins and Parker, 2003). However, the numerical finding that hummocky dunes always coalesce if given sufficient time suggests that differences in species-specific lateral growth rates alone are not sufficient to explain hummockiness that persists through time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Lateral vegetation growth rates exert control on coastal foredune hummockiness and coalescing time

2017

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Abstract. Coastal foredunes form along sandy, low-sloped coastlines and range in shape from continuous dune ridges to hummocky features, which are characterized by alongshore-variable dune crest elevations. Initially scattered dune-building plants and species that grow slowly in the lateral direction have been implicated as a cause of foredune "hummockiness". Our goal in this work is to explore how the initial configuration of vegetation and vegetation growth characteristics control the development of hummocky coastal dunes including the maximum hummockiness of a given dune field. We find that given sufficient time and absent external forcing, hummocky foredunes coalesce to form continuous dune ridges. Model results yield a predictive rule for the timescale of coalescing and the height of the coalesced dune that depends on initial plant dispersal and two parameters that control the lateral and vertical growth of vegetation, respectively. Our findings agree with previous observational and conceptual work -whether or not hummockiness will be maintained depends on the timescale of coalescing relative to the recurrence interval of high-water events that reset dune building in low areas between hummocks. Additionally, our model reproduces the observed tendency for foredunes to be hummocky along the southeast coast of the US where lateral vegetation growth rates are slower and thus coalescing times are likely longer.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Lateral vegetation growth rates exert control on coastal foredune hummockiness and coalescing time

2017

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“…Letters denote significant differences among years based on multi-response permutation procedure pairwise comparisons migration of the boundary between upland and marsh and, thus, the importance of including ecological processes in the island interior when modeling future scenarios. Finer temporal and spatial resolution along with topographic data will likely increase the predictive power of change of models (e.g., Enwright et al, 2017;Monge & Stallins, 2016).…”

Section: Ship Shoal)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Connectivity in coastal systems: Barrier island vegetation influences upland migration in a changing climate

Zinnert

Via

Nettleton

et al. 2019

Global Change Biology

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Due to their position at the land–sea interface, barrier islands are vulnerable to both oceanic and atmospheric climate change‐related drivers. In response to relative sea‐level rise, barrier islands tend to migrate landward via overwash processes which deposit sediment onto the backbarrier marsh, thus maintaining elevation above sea level. In this paper, we assess the importance of interior upland vegetation and sediment transport (from upland to marsh) on the movement of the marsh–upland boundary in a transgressive barrier system along the mid‐Atlantic Coast. We hypothesize that recent woody expansion is altering the rate of marsh to upland conversion. Using Landsat imagery over a 32 year time period (1984–2016), we quantify transitions between land cover (bare, grassland, woody vegetation, and marsh) and the marsh–upland boundary. We find that the Virginia Barrier Islands have both gains and losses in backbarrier marsh and upland, with 19% net loss from the system during the timeframe of the study and increased variance in marsh to upland conversion. This is consistent with recent work indicating a shift toward increasing rates of landward barrier island migration. Despite a net loss of upland area, macroclimatic winter warming resulted in 41% increase in woody vegetation in protected, low‐elevation areas, introducing new ecological scenarios that increase resistance to sediment movement from upland to marsh. Our analysis demonstrates how the interplay between elevation and interior island vegetative cover influences landward migration of the boundary between upland and marsh (a previously underappreciated indicator that an island is migrating), and thus, the importance of including ecological processes in the island interior into coastal modeling of barrier island migration and sediment movement across the barrier landscape.

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“…Past research has shown that plant functional traits can be used to inform vegetation zonation of coastal systems in Mediterranean and Gulf Coast plant communities (Feagin and Ben Wu 2007, Ciccarelli 2015, Conti et al 2017). Although driven by disturbance, trait‐based community composition has been rarely utilized in Atlantic barrier island systems, with species approaches dominating our understanding of communities and habitats (Monge and Stallins 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, recent research suggests that barrier islands respond individualistically to similar disturbances due to topographic heterogeneity, making them ideal systems for studying disturbance response across multiple scales (Zinnert et al 2017, 2019). Relationships between plant presence and coastal topography have been documented, but these are largely species‐based (Stallins 2006, Monge and Stallins 2016, Goldstein et al 2017, Hacker et al 2019). A knowledge gap remains as to how differences in topographic heterogeneity influence trait‐based community composition and relationships with ecosystem productivity in high‐disturbance coastal systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Topography and disturbance influence trait‐based composition and productivity of adjacent habitats in a coastal system

Brown

Zinnert

2020

Ecosphere

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Citation: Brown, J. K., and J. C., Zinnert. 2020. Topography and disturbance influence trait-based composition and productivity of adjacent habitats in a coastal system. Ecosphere 11(5):Abstract. Coastal systems experience frequent disturbance and multiple environmental stressors over short spatial and temporal scales. Investigating functional traits in coastal systems has the potential to inform how variation in disturbance frequency and environmental variables influence differences in trait-based community composition and ecosystem function. Our goals were to (1) quantify trait-based communities on two barrier islands divergent in topography and long-term disturbance response and (2) determine relationships between community trait-based composition and ecosystem productivity. We hypothesized that locations documented with high disturbance would have habitats with similar environmental conditions and trait-based communities, with the opposite relationship in low-disturbance locations. Furthermore, we expected higher productivity and lower site-to-site variation with low disturbance. Functional traits, biomass, and environmental metrics (soil salinity, elevation, and distance to shoreline) were collected and analyzed for two habitat types (dune and swale) on two Virginia barrier islands. Our results show that trait-based community composition differed among habitat types and was related to disturbance. Habitats exhibited more similarity on the high-disturbance island in both trait-based composition and environmental variables. Conversely, the low-disturbance island habitats were more dissimilar. We found the habitat with the lowest disturbance had the highest ecosystem productivity and had trait-based communities indicative of highly competitive environments, while the high-disturbance trait-based communities were influenced by traits that indicate rapid recovery and growth. Site-to-site variation was similar in all dune habitats but differed among inter-island swale habitats that varied in disturbance. These results highlight the importance of incorporating trait-based analyses when approaching questions about community structure and ecosystem productivity in disturbance-mediated habitats, such as coastal systems.

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Properties of dune topographic state space for six barrier islands of the U.S. southeastern Atlantic coast

Cited by 15 publications

References 72 publications

Lateral vegetation growth rates exert control on coastal foredune hummockiness and coalescing time

Lateral vegetation growth rates exert control on coastal foredune hummockiness and coalescing time

Connectivity in coastal systems: Barrier island vegetation influences upland migration in a changing climate

Topography and disturbance influence trait‐based composition and productivity of adjacent habitats in a coastal system

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