BACKGROUND Salt marshes lie between many human communities and the coast and have been presumed to protect these communities from coastal hazards by providing important ecosystem services. However, previous characterizations of these ecosystem services have typically been based on a small number of historical studies, and the consistency and extent to which marshes provide these services has no...

Tidal marshes maintain elevation relative to sea level through accumulation of mineral and organic matter, yet this dynamic accumulation feedback mechanism has not been modeled widely in the context of accelerated sea-level rise. Uncertainties exist about tidal marsh resiliency to accelerated sea-level rise, reduced sediment supply, reduced plant productivity under increased inundation, and lim...

[1] Wetlands represent the largest component of the terrestrial biological carbon pool and thus play an important role in global carbon cycles. Most global carbon budgets, however, have focused on dry land ecosystems that extend over large areas and have not accounted for the many small, scattered carbon-storing ecosystems such as tidal saline wetlands. We compiled data for 154 sites in mangrov...

Spartina alterniflora, salt marsh cordgrass, is the dominant plant in coastal wetlands along the North American Atlantic coast. Ecological disturbances in salt marshes, such as coverage by wrack, disease, and eat-outs, affects Spartina marshes from the Gulf of Mexico to New England and may reduce the diversity of S. alterniflora clones within a population or alter other genetic characteristics ...

Sediment deposition is the main mechanism of nutrient delivery to tidal freshwater marshes (TFMs). We quantified sediment nutrient accumulation in TFMs upstream and downstream of a proposed water withdrawal project on the Mattaponi River, Virginia. Our goal was to assess nutrient availability by comparing relative rates of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) accumulated in sediments wi...

Salt marshes are highly effective carbon (C) sinks and have higher rates of soil C burial (per square meter) than terrestrial ecosystems. Marsh reclamation and anthropogenic impacts, however, have resulted in extensive losses of salt marshes. Restoration of marshes drained and "reclaimed" for agriculture (referred to in Canada as dykelands) and degraded marshes can generate C credits, but only ...

In recent years, mosquito abatement techniques known variously as quality ditching, source management, or open marsh water management (OMWM), have shown promise of reducing mosquito numbers on salt marshes while preserving habitats and species diversity (Provost, 1977). Pool habitats are created or maintained rather than destroyed, and the levels of insecticide use greatly reduced. Although the...

RAMSEY, E. III; WERLE, D.; SUZUOKI, Y.; RANGOONWALA, A., and LU, Z., 2012. Limitations and potential of satellite imagery to monitor environmental response to coastal flooding. Journal of Coastal Research, 28(2), 457–476. West Palm Beach (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Storm-surge flooding and marsh response throughout the coastal wetlands of Louisiana were mapped using several types of remote sensi...