Restoring for the climate: a review of coastal wetland restoration research in the last 30 years

Abstract

Wetlands provide significant ecosystem services yet are ranked among some of the most imperiled habitats. To maximize prioritization of these habitats a better understanding of the full range of ecosystem functions is needed, starting with an examination of how coastal wetlands have been portrayed in restoration literature to date. This study consists of a literature review and the use of automated topic analyses aimed at (1) summarizing the current research related to coastal wetland restoration, (2) identifying the key fields of research, and (3) identifying research efforts connecting restoration and climate adaptation strategies (e.g. blue carbon). Of the 702 papers sourced for this analysis, most studies were conducted in North America and Europe. An increase in articles considering wetland restoration was found from 1985 to October 2020, with 40% of the research published just in the last triennia (2018–2020). Topic division highlights the emergence of studies related to management under climate change (e.g. sea level rise, adaptive management) and to carbon sequestration as separate fields of research from classical ecological studies. This reveals the need to ensure that classical ecological research is not neglected by work relating to climate strategies, which depend upon an accurate understanding of ecological processes.

Habitat restoration and the recovery of metacommunities

“…This degradation, in turn, accelerates the loss of biodiversity, as well as the ecosystem services on which we rely (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005; IPBES, 2019). In response to this problem, ecosystem restoration has been recognised as a sustainable and efficient solution (Strassburg et al, 2020; United Nations, 2021), and has been receiving more attention in the recent years (Rovere, 2015; Svenning et al, 2016; Bertolini and da Mosto, 2021). With increasing public awareness, growing support from international organisations, and the current United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030), the opportunities for restoration have never been greater.…”

Observing coastal wetland transitions using national land cover products

“…Coastal wetlands are dynamic and important environments that are vulnerable to widespread impacts due to climate change. Coastal wetland transformations will vary over time and space due to numerous factors related to climate change (Reed et al, 2022), including relative sea-level rise (Sweet et al, 2022), precipitation (Osland et al, 2014; Wang et al, 2022), sediment availability (Morris et al, 2002), winter temperatures (Osland et al, 2021), extreme storm frequency (Cahoon, 2006; Thorne et al, 2022), and coastal wetland restoration (Williams and Faber, 2001; Zhao et al, 2016; Bertolini and da Mosto, 2021). Globally, accelerating sea-level rise is predicted to be an increasingly important driver of coastal wetland change in the coming century (FitzGerald and Hughes, 2019; Saintilan et al, 2022).…”

Horizon scan of rapidly advancing coral restoration approaches for 21st century reef management

“…To develop more standardised practice as well as catalyse innovative tools, activities have become increasingly networked via regional or global bodies (e.g. the Coral Restoration Consortium) with goals to more systematically and collectively build knowledge [11], whilst also adopting core principles from more well established terrestrial and coastal restoration fields [12][13][14] (Box 1). In doing so, building a more robust scientific process has galvanised this movement to transform the scale, feasibility and hence cost-effectiveness needed to solidify reef restoration as tangible management action [7,15].…”