Vegetation Reconfigures Barrier Coasts and Affects Tidal Basin Infilling Under Sea Level Rise

Abstract

Tidal basins and associated saltmarshes along barrier coasts are important marine-terrestrial interface environments that provide valuable ecosystem services including coastal protection (Barbier et al., 2011;Zhu et al., 2020) and shelter for harbours. In this article, "barrier coasts" refer to systems composed of mainland-backed tidal basins enclosed from the ocean by barrier islands and spits while connected to the open sea via inlets (Figure 1). Inlet geometry is controlled by waves and littoral drift, which work to narrow and close inlets, and tidal forces, which strive to maintain the connection (De Swart & Zimmerman, 2009). The inlets are bracketed by ebb-and flood-tidal deltas that provide sediment storage and protection against storms for the shallow areas rich in marine and terrestrial ecology (De Swart & Zimmerman, 2009;Moore et al., 2018). The morphological evolution of the barrier coast is driven by the combination of sediments transported by tides and waves (Boyd et al., 1992;Davis & Hayes, 1984;De Swart & Zimmerman, 2009). The combined effects of tides and waves promote water and sediment exchange between the open coast, tidal deltas, and the inner basin. These hydrodynamic forces

Mangrove removal exacerbates estuarine infilling through landscape-scale bio-morphodynamic feedbacks

“…However, projected accelerations in sea-level rise may create additional accommodation space 60,61 , thus slowing down the estuarine infilling process. Sedimentation rates along vegetated tidal flats have been found to be non-linearly related to sea-level rise rates 42 , such that future estuarine infilling is likely to be a complex process that needs to be further explored 62 .…”

Climate Change Can Intensify the Effects of Local Interventions: A Morphological Modeling Study of a Highly Engineered Estuary

“…(2016, 2017)). Alternative approaches exist to include climate variability in the model forcing, for example, by clustering the wave climate based on wave energy (see Boechat Albernaz et al., 2023), but no such approaches are identified for estuaries where concurring seasonal variations of both the river discharge and wave climate can play a significant role. Long‐term climate variation, that is, CC, are considered via the CC snap‐shots of a potential future scenario for the estuary.…”

“…Besides, feedbacks between morphological and ecological processes, for example, foreshore vegetation, such as foreshore vegetation can affect morphological development of the entire system (Boechat Albernaz et al., 2023; Brückner et al., 2019; van de Koppel et al., 2012). As such, the inclusion of vegetation in morphodynamic models can significantly alter long‐term morphological predictions.…”

A flow-curvature-based model for channel meandering in tidal marshes

“…Existing models for tidal marsh morphodynamics do not properly include the dynamics associated with channel meandering (Boechat Albernaz et al, 2023;D'Alpaos et al, 2005;Gourgue et al, 2022;Mariotti, 2020;van de Vijsel et al, 2023;Xu et al, 2022), either because they do not account for the flow modification due to the curvature (which is associated with the secondary flow) or because they do not include bank erosion. The channel networks simulated with these models display some levels of sinuosity, which is mostly acquired in the early stage of channel network development and is driven by changes in tidal watersheds as the network evolves.…”