{"id":10997,"date":"2019-06-07T17:33:56","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T21:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=10997"},"modified":"2024-07-08T14:09:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T18:09:49","slug":"which-wetlands-will-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/which-wetlands-will-survive\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea Science: Which Wetlands Will Survive?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n

Coastal salt marshes offer numerous benefits \u2014 protecting shorelines, providing habitats for fish, filtering pollution and even preventing floods. Wetlands also remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and, by doing so, help to slow global warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of the essential role wetlands play, scientists Anna Braswell and James Heffernan, both based at Duke at the time, examined the characteristics of hundreds of estuaries using geospatial analyses that spanned the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Maine to Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estuaries \u2014 areas where freshwater meets saltwater \u2014 are critical when considering what causes marshland to thrive or die. Marshes have special ecological relationships with their water sources, which supply nutrients. River-deposited sediment, for instance, delivers nutrients with greater potential to build wetlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saltwater affects marshes as well. For example, in places that experience higher tidal ranges, marshes usually are more resilient to sea level rise, because vegetation provides a buffer zone for higher water levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With support from North Carolina Sea Grant<\/a> and the National Science Foundation, Braswell and Heffernan focused on estuary water depth, land use, vegetation, erosion and other factors, exploring interactions and impacts on ecosystems both locally and more broadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braswell, now at the University of Colorado at Boulder, says her work with Heffernan revealed that the health of marshes depends on such factors as erosion, nutrient deposits and vegetation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut at broader spatial scales,\u201d she says, \u201cother key drivers emerged, too.\u201d Geographic features, such as coastline and tidal ranges, control wetlands when considered on a wider level, and these forces influence the effects of local ecological processes, or \u201cfeedbacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese larger coastal and watershed characteristics accentuated or limited the stabilizing impacts of the local feedbacks,\u201d Braswell explains. \u201cBut they weren\u2019t really evident until we took a few steps back and viewed the estuaries from broader perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heffernan says their study indicates that all salt marshes likely have tipping points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKnowing what causes these tipping points to vary from location to location is an important step in identifying where we should expect marshes to be especially vulnerable to future change,\u201d Heffernan explains. \u201cIt also provides a framework for understanding where wetland restoration is likely or not likely to succeed.\u201d According to the researchers, some marshes exist in favorable conditions but without the expected wetland growth. Such cases could be prime candidates for restoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis research supports North Carolina Sea Grant\u2019s aim to meet the needs of coastal communities and answer complex questions by combining a respect for the importance of marsh and wetland habitat and the need to maximize the use of restoration dollars to maintain those habitats,\u201d says John Fear, deputy director of North Carolina Sea Grant and the state\u2019s Water Resources Research Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe work demonstrates a connection between our state\u2019s inland population centers and the coastal region through the state\u2019s expansive watersheds,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Braswell and Heffernan determined that a lack of deposited sediment negatively affects marsh development and maintenance. This is especially noteworthy, because inland reforestation and use of dams have caused the delivery of sediment to coastal wetlands to decrease by 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To better inform restoration efforts and sustainability in the face of future sea level rise and other environmental changes, Braswell and Heffernan call for continued forecasts of wetland health that incorporate both local processes and broader estuarine and watershed drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read the full study results published in<\/em> Ecosystems: go.ncsu.edu\/marsh<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related<\/h2>
\nSummer 2019 Issue<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/a>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sea level rise. Human development. Sediment deposits. Wave energy. All affect coastal wetlands, but to what extent? New research suggests all marshes have tipping points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":13034,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-immersive.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_custom_author":"Summer Walls","ncst_show_custom_author":true,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-immersive-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"backgroundColor\":\"custombg_one\",\"caption\":\"Core Banks, North Carolina. 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