Sea Level Rise and the Dynamics of the Marsh-Upland Boundary

Fagherazzi, Sergio; Anisfeld, Shimon C.; Blum, Linda K.; Long, Emily V.; Feagin, Rusty A.; Fernandes, A.A.; Kearney, William S.; Williams, Kevin A.

doi:10.3389/fenvs.2019.00025

Cited by 129 publications

(114 citation statements)

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“…The landward extent of a salt marsh is defined by adjacent upland environments such as forests, freshwater wetlands, agricultural fields, and urban landscapes (Fagherazzi, Anisfeld, et al, 2019). As sea level rises, upland areas become more frequently inundated with salt water.…”

Section: The Biophysical Processes Governing the Marsh‐upland Boundarymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(d) Only in the regenerative zone seedlings can grow back and the forest recovers, while the marsh expands in the persistence zone. Note that the upper boundary of the persistence zone moves with sea level (press disturbance), while the lower boundary moves during storms (pulse disturbance) (from Fagherazzi, Anisfeld, et al, 2019).…”

Section: The Biophysical Processes Governing the Marsh‐upland Boundarymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sea level rise will trigger ecosystem shifts in wetlands, with salt marshes transgressing in upland areas (Fagherazzi, Anisfeld, et al, 2019; Fagherazzi, Nordio, et al, 2019) and, in warm climates, mangroves replacing salt marshes at the marine edge (Saintilan et al, 2014). The migration of marshes into uplands changes the ecosystem services that humans obtain from coastal landscapes (Feagin et al, 2010; Schmidt et al, 2014).…”

Section: Implications For Management and Restoration Of Salt Marshesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Salt Marsh Dynamics in a Period of Accelerated Sea Level Rise

et al. 2020

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Salt marshes are dynamic systems able to laterally expand, contract, and vertically accrete in response to sea level rise. Here, we present the grand challenges that need to be addressed to fully characterize marsh morphodynamics. The review focuses on physical processes and quantitative models. Without predictive models, it is impossible to determine the future marsh evolution under accelerated sea level rise. In these models, one of the challenges is to resolve both horizontal and vertical dynamics within the same framework. Vertically, the marsh has to accumulate enough material to contrast rising water levels. Horizontally, marsh erosion at the ocean side must be compensated by landward expansion in forests, lawns, and agricultural fields. The dynamics of the marsh‐upland boundary are still not fully understood and will require more research in the upcoming years. The complexity of marsh vegetation is seldom captured in predictive models of marsh evolution. More research is needed to understand the effects of each species or species assemblages on hydrodynamics and sediment transport. Here, we further advocate that a sediment budget resolving all sediment fluxes in a marsh complex is the most important metric of marsh resilience. Characterization of these fluxes will enable to connect salt marshes to other landforms and to unravel feedbacks controlling the evolution of the entire coastal system. Current models of marsh evolution rely on sparse data sets collected at few locations. Novel remote sensing techniques will provide high‐resolution spatial data that will inform a new generation of computer models.

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Section: The Biophysical Processes Governing the Marsh‐upland Boundarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Biophysical Processes Governing the Marsh‐upland Boundarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Implications For Management and Restoration Of Salt Marshesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Salt Marsh Dynamics in a Period of Accelerated Sea Level Rise

et al. 2020

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“…However, our results suggest that existing natural populations of S. foliosa should be able to tolerate a degree of increased salinity and inundation during SLR, as marshes transgress inland where possible and as the new habitat experiences increases in soil salinity and inundation (e.g. Fagherazzi et al . 2019 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

From physiology to salt marsh management challenges with sea level rise: the case of native Spartina foliosa, invasive S. densiflora and their hybrid

Gallego‐Tévar

Peinado-Torrubia

Álvarez

et al. 2020

Conservation Physiology

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Abstract Sea level rise (SLR) imposes increasing salinity and inundation stresses in salt marshes which simultaneously face invasions by exotic plant species. We aimed to improve and apply knowledge on the ecophysiological responses of halophytes to SLR to conservation management of salt marshes. In a mesocosm experiment, we measured and compared phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activity and related functional traits of the California-native Spartina foliosa, invasive S. densiflora and their hybrid S. densiflora × foliosa in response to increasing levels of salinity and inundation. S. foliosa was moderately sensitive to salinity, showing a 57% reduction in PEPC specific activity from freshwater to hypersalinity. This native species compensated for the reduction of PEPC activity with increased salinity through 80% higher enzyme activation by phosphorylation. PEPC functional trait responses of S. foliosa were mostly independent of inundation depth. In view of these results, managers should conserve undeveloped lands for accommodation space above current high tide lines to facilitate colonization of stress-tolerant S. foliosa. Our results on functional responses of PEPC traits recorded high sensitivity to salinity for S. densiflora. This was reflected by 65% lower PEPC specific activity together with increasing accumulation of free proline (+96%) and total proteins (+23%) with elevated salinity. These results suggest prioritized eradication of S. densiflora populations in brackish habitats. Measured PEPC responses support the high stress tolerance of the S. densiflora × foliosa hybrid. PEPC traits for the hybrid were mostly independent of salinity and inundation. The hybrid showed higher PEPC-specific activity than S. foliosa (+70%) and S. densiflora (+15%) in freshwater under intermediate inundation. Results suggest that eradication of the hybrid should be the highest management priority. Our study shows that the responses of key functional physiological traits to environmental stresses serve as biological indicators that can guide ecosystem management practices in a scenario of climate change.

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“…Retreat of coastal forests with rising sea levels has been documented [1][2][3][4]; however, this forest response can be influenced by a variety of circumstances. Storm surges, saltwater intrusion, flooding, and drought can also have a significant effect on these regions [5,6]. Even if these events do not kill trees outright, they can affect saplings that tend to be more sensitive to environmental stressors, thus reducing rates of overall forest regeneration.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variations in Persistence and Regenerative Zones in Coastal Forests Triggered by Sea Level Rise and Storms

et al. 2019

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Retreat of coastal forests in relation to sea level rise has been widely documented. Recent work indicates that coastal forests on the Delmarva Peninsula, United States, can be differentiated into persistence and regenerative zones as a function of sea-level rise and storm events. In the lower persistence zone trees cannot regenerate because of frequent flooding and high soil salinity. This study aims to verify the existence of these zones using spectral remote sensing data, and determine whether the effect of large storm events that cause damage to these forests can be detected from satellite images. Spectral analysis confirms a significant difference in average Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) values in the proposed persistence and regenerative zones. Both NDVI and NDWI indexes decrease after storms triggering a surge above 1.3 m with respect to the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88). NDWI values decrease more, suggesting that this index is better suited to detect the effect of hurricanes on coastal forests. In the regenerative zone, both NDVI and NDWI values recover three years after a storm, while in the persistence zone the NDVI and NDWI values keep decreasing, possibly due to sea level rise causing vegetation stress. As a result, the forest resilience to storms in the persistence zone is lower than in the regenerative zone. Our findings corroborate the ecological ratchet model of coastal forest disturbance.

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Sea Level Rise and the Dynamics of the Marsh-Upland Boundary

Cited by 129 publications

References 103 publications

Salt Marsh Dynamics in a Period of Accelerated Sea Level Rise

Salt Marsh Dynamics in a Period of Accelerated Sea Level Rise

From physiology to salt marsh management challenges with sea level rise: the case of native Spartina foliosa, invasive S. densiflora and their hybrid

Variations in Persistence and Regenerative Zones in Coastal Forests Triggered by Sea Level Rise and Storms

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