Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels

Ladd, Cai; Duggan-Edwards, Mollie Frances; Pagès, Jordi F.; Skov, Martin Wiggers

doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.757715

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Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels

Cai Ladd

, Mollie Frances Duggan-Edwards, Jordi F. Pagès, Martin Wiggers Skov

Frontiers in Marine Science, Volume: 8

Swansea University Author: Cai Ladd

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DOI (Published version): 10.3389/fmars.2021.757715

Abstract

Resilience of coastal ecosystems to climate change is largely determined by the interaction between plants and the surrounding tidal environment. Research has tended to focus on processes operating at the local scale to explain resilience mechanisms, overlooking potentially important landscape-scale...

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Published in:	Frontiers in Marine Science
ISSN:	2296-7745
Published:	Frontiers Media SA 2021
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URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64489
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We show from aerial images spanning 67 years across 3 estuaries that saltmarsh loss was compensated by expansion elsewhere in the estuary when tidal channels shifted position. Compensatory expansion rates were as high as 6 m/yr. This phenomenon of “geomorphic compensation” represents a hitherto overlooked large-scale self-organizing pattern that facilitates the long-term persistence of marshes in estuaries. The geomorphic compensation pattern likely also occurs in other hydrological systems including mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows, and river islands. Compensatory erosion-expansion patterns occurred at the same time as net marsh extent increased by between 120 and 235% across all three estuaries. Marsh expansion mostly occurred in the lower parts of each estuary, where channel migration and compensatory expansion was less evident. Patterns of geomorphic compensation therefore appear to operate at discrete spatio-temporal scales, nested within a hierarchy of coastal morphodynamic processes that govern longer-term patterns of either net marsh gain or loss. Coastal ecosystem resilience can therefore only be fully appreciated when examining erosion and expansion patterns at both local and landscape scales. 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spelling	v2 64489 2023-09-08 Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels 134c870190db4c365e2ccc2d6c107462 0000-0001-5437-6474 Cai Ladd Cai Ladd true false 2023-09-08 SGE Resilience of coastal ecosystems to climate change is largely determined by the interaction between plants and the surrounding tidal environment. Research has tended to focus on processes operating at the local scale to explain resilience mechanisms, overlooking potentially important landscape-scale processes and patterns. We show from aerial images spanning 67 years across 3 estuaries that saltmarsh loss was compensated by expansion elsewhere in the estuary when tidal channels shifted position. Compensatory expansion rates were as high as 6 m/yr. This phenomenon of “geomorphic compensation” represents a hitherto overlooked large-scale self-organizing pattern that facilitates the long-term persistence of marshes in estuaries. The geomorphic compensation pattern likely also occurs in other hydrological systems including mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows, and river islands. Compensatory erosion-expansion patterns occurred at the same time as net marsh extent increased by between 120 and 235% across all three estuaries. Marsh expansion mostly occurred in the lower parts of each estuary, where channel migration and compensatory expansion was less evident. Patterns of geomorphic compensation therefore appear to operate at discrete spatio-temporal scales, nested within a hierarchy of coastal morphodynamic processes that govern longer-term patterns of either net marsh gain or loss. Coastal ecosystem resilience can therefore only be fully appreciated when examining erosion and expansion patterns at both local and landscape scales. The intrinsic dynamics of marshes described here have important implications for the long-term delivery of ecosystem services. Journal Article Frontiers in Marine Science 8 Frontiers Media SA 2296-7745 Coastal biogeomorphology, ecosystem resilience, scale-dependence, saltmarsh edge, tidal channelmigration, sheltered macrotidal estuaries, ecosystem services 20 10 2021 2021-10-20 10.3389/fmars.2021.757715 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.757715 COLLEGE NANME Geography COLLEGE CODE SGE Swansea University This work was supported by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol (Ysgoloriaethau Ymchwil), the Welsh Government and Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (Sêr Cymru National Research Network for Low Carbon, Energy and Environment), the Natural Environment Research Council (C-SIDE Project) (Grant No. NE/R010846/1), and the United Kingdom Research and Innovation Global Challenges Research Fund (Living Deltas Research Hub) (Grant No. NE/S008926/1). 2023-10-05T10:22:57.5423758 2023-09-08T11:46:57.6187756 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography Cai Ladd 0000-0001-5437-6474 1 Mollie Frances Duggan-Edwards 2 Jordi F. Pagès 3 Martin Wiggers Skov 4 64489__28576__66dd86523882458294e026dc7ddde550.pdf 64489.pdf 2023-09-19T12:01:39.5883240 Output 7361634 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2021 Ladd, Duggan-Edwards, Pagès and Skov. Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY 4.0). true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels
spellingShingle	Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels Cai Ladd
title_short	Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels
title_full	Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels
title_fullStr	Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels
title_full_unstemmed	Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels
title_sort	Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels
author_id_str_mv	134c870190db4c365e2ccc2d6c107462
author_id_fullname_str_mv	134c870190db4c365e2ccc2d6c107462_***_Cai Ladd
author	Cai Ladd
author2	Cai Ladd Mollie Frances Duggan-Edwards Jordi F. Pagès Martin Wiggers Skov
format	Journal article
container_title	Frontiers in Marine Science
container_volume	8
publishDate	2021
institution	Swansea University
issn	2296-7745
doi_str_mv	10.3389/fmars.2021.757715
publisher	Frontiers Media SA
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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department_str	School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Geography
url	http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.757715
document_store_str	1
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description	Resilience of coastal ecosystems to climate change is largely determined by the interaction between plants and the surrounding tidal environment. Research has tended to focus on processes operating at the local scale to explain resilience mechanisms, overlooking potentially important landscape-scale processes and patterns. We show from aerial images spanning 67 years across 3 estuaries that saltmarsh loss was compensated by expansion elsewhere in the estuary when tidal channels shifted position. Compensatory expansion rates were as high as 6 m/yr. This phenomenon of “geomorphic compensation” represents a hitherto overlooked large-scale self-organizing pattern that facilitates the long-term persistence of marshes in estuaries. The geomorphic compensation pattern likely also occurs in other hydrological systems including mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows, and river islands. Compensatory erosion-expansion patterns occurred at the same time as net marsh extent increased by between 120 and 235% across all three estuaries. Marsh expansion mostly occurred in the lower parts of each estuary, where channel migration and compensatory expansion was less evident. Patterns of geomorphic compensation therefore appear to operate at discrete spatio-temporal scales, nested within a hierarchy of coastal morphodynamic processes that govern longer-term patterns of either net marsh gain or loss. Coastal ecosystem resilience can therefore only be fully appreciated when examining erosion and expansion patterns at both local and landscape scales. The intrinsic dynamics of marshes described here have important implications for the long-term delivery of ecosystem services.
published_date	2021-10-20T10:22:58Z
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Saltmarsh Resilience to Periodic Shifts in Tidal Channels

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