Impact of salt marsh and seagrass beds on the sediemnt buget and resilience of coatsal areas

Salt marshes and seagrass beds can offer sustainable coastal protection solutions and several ecosystem co-benefits. The delicate balance regulating salt marsh stability depends on several factors including the sediment added to and removed from the coastal system (Donatelli et al., 2018, 2019; Zhang et al., 2019).  Despite the importance of these sediment budget dynamics, many feedbacks between salt marsh presence and sediment availability are still unclear. Here, we use numerical models to simulate changes in depositional patterns of six estuaries along the U.S. coastline to investigate how salt marsh and seagrass beds removal and restoration can alter the sediment budget and resilience of coastal environments. 

Donatelli, C., Ganju, N.K., Kalra, T.S., Fagherazzi, S. and Leonardi, N., 2019. Changes in hydrodynamics and wave energy as a result of seagrass decline along the shoreline of a microtidal back-barrier estuary. Advances in Water Resources, 128, pp.183-192.

Zhang, X., Leonardi, N., Donatelli, C. and Fagherazzi, S., 2019. Fate of cohesive sediments in a marsh-dominated estuary. Advances in water resources, 125, pp.32-40.

Donatelli, C., Ganju, N.K., Fagherazzi, S. and Leonardi, N., 2018. Seagrass impact on sediment exchange between tidal flats and salt marsh, and the sediment budget of shallow bays. Geophysical Research Letters, 45(10), pp.4933-4943.