Identifying hydro-geomorphological conditions for state shifts from bare tidal flats to vegetated tidal marshes

Chen Wang; Sven Smolders; David P. Callaghan; Jim van Belzen; Tjeerd J. Bouma; Zhan Hu; Qingke Wen; Stijn Temmerman

doi:10.3390/rs12142316

Identifying hydro-geomorphological conditions for state shifts from bare tidal flats to vegetated tidal marshes

Chen Wang, Sven Smolders, David P. Callaghan, Jim van Belzen, Tjeerd J. Bouma, Zhan Hu^*, Qingke Wen, Stijn Temmerman

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

High-lying vegetated marshes and low-lying bare mudflats have been suggested to be two stable states in intertidal ecosystems. Being able to identify the conditions enabling the shifts between these two stable states is of great importance for ecosystem management in general and the restoration of tidal marsh ecosystems in particular. However, the number of studies investigating the conditions for state shifts from bare mudflats to vegetated marshes remains relatively low. We developed a GIS approach to identify the locations of expected shifts from bare intertidal flats to vegetated marshes along a large estuary (Western Scheldt estuary, SW Netherlands), by analyzing the interactions between spatial patterns of vegetation biomass, elevation, tidal currents, and wind waves. We analyzed false-color aerial images for locating marshes, LIDAR-based digital elevation models, and spatial model simulations of tidal currents and wind waves at the whole estuary scale (~326 km²). Our results demonstrate that: (1) Bimodality in vegetation biomass and intertidal elevation co-occur; (2) the tidal currents and wind waves change abruptly at the transitions between the low-elevation bare state and high-elevation vegetated state. These findings suggest that biogeomorphic feedback between vegetation growth, currents, waves, and sediment dynamics causes the state shifts from bare mudflats to vegetated marshes. Our findings are translated into a GIS approach (logistic regression) to identify the locations of shifts from bare to vegetated states during the studied period based on spatial patterns of elevation, current, and wave orbital velocities. This GIS approach can provide a scientific basis for the management and restoration of tidal marshes.

Original language	English
Article number	2316
Number of pages	22
Journal	Remote Sensing
Volume	12
Issue number	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12142316
Publication status	Published - 18 Jul 2020

Funding

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 41501116, 51761135022, and 41401413), the Major Projects of High Resolution Earth Observation Systems of National Science and Technology (05-Y30B01-9001-19/20-2), the Preliminary Study on Key Technologies of Remote Sensing Monitoring for Urban Black and Odorous Water Bodies Project (2016SZXHC-1), the European Union Programme Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window (EMECW)-Lot 14-China, the FWO research community "Functioning of River Ecosystems by Plant-Flow-Soil interactions", the Technology Foundation for Selected Overseas Chinese Scholar from Ministry of Personnel of China (2015) and Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology (2019ZT08G090). We thank Rijkswaterstaat for providing the LIDAR data, aerial images, as well as field data on wave, wind, and tide. We also would like to thank the KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) for providing weather data. The high-performance computing was supported by the Queensland Cyber Infrastructure Foundation and The University of Queensland.

Keywords

Intertidal flats
LIDAR
Marsh formation
Pending shift
Stable ecosystem states

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title = "Identifying hydro-geomorphological conditions for state shifts from bare tidal flats to vegetated tidal marshes",

abstract = "High-lying vegetated marshes and low-lying bare mudflats have been suggested to be two stable states in intertidal ecosystems. Being able to identify the conditions enabling the shifts between these two stable states is of great importance for ecosystem management in general and the restoration of tidal marsh ecosystems in particular. However, the number of studies investigating the conditions for state shifts from bare mudflats to vegetated marshes remains relatively low. We developed a GIS approach to identify the locations of expected shifts from bare intertidal flats to vegetated marshes along a large estuary (Western Scheldt estuary, SW Netherlands), by analyzing the interactions between spatial patterns of vegetation biomass, elevation, tidal currents, and wind waves. We analyzed false-color aerial images for locating marshes, LIDAR-based digital elevation models, and spatial model simulations of tidal currents and wind waves at the whole estuary scale (~326 km2). Our results demonstrate that: (1) Bimodality in vegetation biomass and intertidal elevation co-occur; (2) the tidal currents and wind waves change abruptly at the transitions between the low-elevation bare state and high-elevation vegetated state. These findings suggest that biogeomorphic feedback between vegetation growth, currents, waves, and sediment dynamics causes the state shifts from bare mudflats to vegetated marshes. Our findings are translated into a GIS approach (logistic regression) to identify the locations of shifts from bare to vegetated states during the studied period based on spatial patterns of elevation, current, and wave orbital velocities. This GIS approach can provide a scientific basis for the management and restoration of tidal marshes.",

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AU - Wen, Qingke

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Identifying hydro-geomorphological conditions for state shifts from bare tidal flats to vegetated tidal marshes

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Keywords

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