Abstract
Understanding processes governing coastal erosion is becoming increasingly urgent because highly valued ecosystems like salt marshes are being lost at accelerating rates. Here we examine the role of biotic interactions in mediating marsh shoreline erosion under wind wave forces. We parameterized analytical and cellular automata models with field data to assess how soil heterogeneity among clonal patches of an ecosystem engineer mediates spatiotemporal patterns of marsh shoreline erosion. We found that spatial heterogeneity accelerates erosion, especially when it is organized in patches of intermediate size. Patch size also mediated interannual variability in erosion and strongly controlled shoreline roughness. Our results indicate that shoreline roughness can be diagnostic of internal biological structure and spatiotemporal variability in erosion. Hence, measures of shoreline roughness may inform the timeframe and spatial extent needed to accurately monitor erosion. These findings highlight how the physical response of marsh shorelines to wind wave erosion is a function of landscape ecology.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 6476-6484 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue number | 13 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Jul 2018 |
Funding
The authors thank J. Karubian, D.R. Strong, and C.M. Taylor for comments that improved the manuscript. This work was supported by an EPA STAR Fellowship awarded to B.M.B. Wind data were obtained freely from the National Data Buoy Center (http://www.ndbc. noaa.gov/). Model code and input data are included as supporting information.
Keywords
- biogeomorphology
- cellular automata
- ecosystem engineer
- land loss
- salt marsh
- spatial heterogeneity
