Plant species, inundation, and sediment grain size control the development of sediment stability in tidal marshes.

ABSTRACT: Tidal marshes can contribute to nature-based shoreline protection by reducing the wave load onto the shore and reducing the erosion of the sediment bed. To implement such nature-based shoreline erosion protection requires the ability to quickly restore or create highly stable and erosion-resistant tidal marshes at places where they currently do not yet occur. Therefore, we aim to identify the drivers controlling the rate by which sediment stability builds up in young pioneer marshes. Sediment stability proxies were measured over age gradients spanning 18 years in six tidal marsh sites in the Western Scheldt estuary (SW Netherlands): Three were dominated by Spartina anglica, a densely growing pioneer species, and three by Scirpus maritimus, a less densely growing pioneer species. Our result

SUBMITTER: Stoorvogel MM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11744737 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature