Restoration of Tidal Marshes

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-22-2021

Abstract

Salt marshes have been lost or degraded as the intensity of human impacts to coastal landscapes has increased due to agriculture, transportation, urban and industrial development, and climate change. Because salt marshes have limited distribution and embody a variety of ecological functions that are important to humans (see ecosystem services, Chapter 15), many societies have recognized the need to preserve remaining marshes, restore those that have been degraded, and create new marshes in areas where they have been lost. An emerging and critical threat to tidal marshes across the globe is increasing rates of sea level rise and other aspects of climate change, which complicates but also heightens the urgency for restoration. By restoration we mean re-establishing natural conditions and the processes needed to support their functions, especially self-maintenance (see Box 17.1). Typically, salt marshes are self-maintaining, with salt tolerant plants, mineral sediments, and tidal flooding interacting to maintain elevation and ecological functions under dynamic conditions (Chapters 4, 7, 8).

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Salt Marshes Function Dynamics and Stresses

First Page

443

Last Page

475

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