Salt Marshes Function, Dynamics, and Stresses

About this book

Salt marshes are highly dynamic and important ecosystems that dampen impacts of coastal storms and are an integral part of tidal wetland systems, which sequester half of all global marine carbon. They are now being threatened due to sea-level rise, decreased sediment influx, and human encroachment. Salt Marshes provides a comprehensive review of the latest salt marsh science, investigating their functions and how they are responding to stresses through formation of salt pannes and pools, headward erosion of tidal creeks, marsh-edge erosion, ice-fracturing, and ice-rafted sedimentation. Written by experts in marsh ecology, coastal geomorphology, wetland biology, estuarine hydrodynamics, and coastal sedimentation, it provides a multidisciplinary summary of recent advancements in our knowledge of salt marshes. The future of wetlands and potential deterioration of salt marshes is also considered, providing a go-to reference for graduate students and researchers studying these coastal systems, as well as marsh managers and restoration scientists.

Contents

1. Introduction / Duncan M. FitzGerald and Zoe J. Hughes

Part I: Marsh Function
2. Salt Marsh Distribution, Vegetation and Evolution / Daniel F. Belknap and Joseph T. Kelley
3. Salt marsh Formation / Antonio B. Rodriguez and Brent A. McKee
4. Salt Marsh Hydrodynamics / Andrea D'Alpaos, Alvise Finotello, Guillaume C.H. Goodwin, Simon M. Mudd
5. Community Ecology of Salt Marshes / Steven C. Pennings and Qiang He
6. The Role of Marshes in Coastal Nutrient Dynamics and Loss / Anne E. Giblin, Robinson W. Fulweiler and Charles S. Hopkinson

Part II: Marsh Dynamics
7. Marsh Equilibrium Theory: Implications for Responses to Rising Sea Level / James T Morris, Donald R. Cahoon, John C. Callaway, Christopher Craft, Scott C. Neubauer, and Nathaniel B. Weston
8. Saltmarsh Ecogeomorphic Processes and Dynamics / Carol A. Wilson, Gerardo M. E. Perillo, and Zoe J. Hughes
9. Salt-Marsh Sediments As Recorders of Holocene Relative Sea-Level Change / W. Roland Gehrels and Andrew C. Kemp
10. Storm Processes and Salt Marsh Dynamics / Katherine A. Castagno, Jeffrey P. Donnelly, Jonathan D. Woodruff
11. Understanding Marsh Dynamics: Modeling Approaches / Sergio Fagherazzi, William Kearney, Giulio Mariotti, Nicoletta Leonardi and William Nardin
12. Understanding Marsh Dynamics: Laboratory Approaches / Charlie E. L. Thompson, Sarah Farron, James Tempest, Iris Möller, Martin Solan, Jasmin Godbold

Part III: Marsh Response to Stress
13. Climatic Impacts on Salt Marsh Vegetation / Katrina L. Poppe and John M. Rybczyk
14. Impacts of Exotic and Native Species Invading Tidal Marshes / David M. Burdick, Gregg E. Moore and Katharyn E. Boyer
15. Marsh Edge Erosion / Michele Bendoni, Ioannis Y Georgiou. and Alyssa B. Novak
16. Upland Migration of North American Salt Marshes / Dante D. Torio and Gail L. Chmura
17. Restoration of Tidal Marshes / John Day, David M. Burdick, Carles Ibáñez, William J. Mitsch, Tracy Elsey-Quirk, Sofia Rivaes
18. Impacts of Climate Change and Sea Level Rise / Zoe J. Hughes, Duncan M. FitzGerald, and Carol A. Wilson.

Customer Reviews

Biography

Duncan FitzGerald is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University. He is a sedimentologist and coastal geomorphologist, whose work focuses on estuaries and tidal inlet and barrier island dynamics and evolution. During the past 15 years, he's been working on salt marshes and the impact of sea-level rise on these systems. He is a fellow of the Geological Society of America and sits on the board of the Coastal Education and Research Foundation.

Zoe Hughes is a coastal oceanographer and geomorphologist and is an Assistant Research Professor at Boston University, where she has worked since 2004. She began her career looking at tidal inlets and sandy barriers but has since expanded to other coastal systems, including estuarine and marsh systems along the Gulf of Mexico and Eastern Seaboard of the US. Through modeling and field data collection, she researches the interaction of hydrodynamics and sediment transport along coastlines, especially shorelines that incorporate channelized systems such as salt marshes.


Contributors:
- Duncan M. FitzGerald
- Zoe J. Hughes
- Daniel F. Belknap
- Joseph T. Kelley
- Antonio B. Rodriguez
- Brent A. McKee
- Andrea D'Alpaos
- Alvise Finotello
- Guillaume C.H. Goodwin
- Simon M. Mudd
- Steven C. Pennings
- Qiang He
- Anne E. Giblin
- Robinson W. Fulweiler
- Charles S. Hopkinson
- James T. Morris
- Donald R. Cahoon
- John C. Callaway
- Christopher Craft
- Scott C. Neubauer
- Nathaniel B. Weston
- Carol A. Wilson
- Gerardo M. E. Perillo
- W. Roland Gehrels
- Andrew C. Kemp
- Katherine A. Castagno
- Jeffrey P. Donnelly
- Jonathan D. Woodruff
- Sergio Fagherazzi
- William Kearney
- Giulio Mariotti
- Nicoletta Leonardi
- William Nardin
- Charlie E. L. Thompson
- Sarah Farron
- James Tempest
- Iris Möller
- Martin Solan
- Jasmin Godbold
- Katrina L. Poppe
- John M. Rybczyk
- David M. Burdick
- Gregg E. Moore
- Katharyn E. Boyer
- Michele Bendoni
- Ioannis Y. Georgiou
- Alyssa B. Novak
- Dante D. Torio
- Gail L. Chmura
- John Day
- David M. Burdick
- Carles Ibáñez
- William J. Mitsch
- Tracy Elsey-Quirk
- Sofia Rivaes