Spatially integrative metrics reveal hidden vulnerability of microtidal salt marshes.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Ganju NK
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5264011 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Spatially integrative metrics reveal hidden vulnerability of microtidal salt marshes.
Ganju Neil K NK Defne Zafer Z Kirwan Matthew L ML Fagherazzi Sergio S D'Alpaos Andrea A Carniello Luca L
Nature communications 20170123
Salt marshes are valued for their ecosystem services, and their vulnerability is typically assessed through biotic and abiotic measurements at individual points on the landscape. However, lateral erosion can lead to rapid marsh loss as marshes build vertically. Marsh sediment budgets represent a spatially integrated measure of competing constructive and destructive forces: a sediment surplus may result in vertical growth and/or lateral expansion, while a sediment deficit may result in drowning a ...[more]
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