Dataset Information

Resistance, resilience, and recovery of salt marshes in the Florida Panhandle following Hurricane Michael.

ABSTRACT: Characterizing the fragility, resistance, and resilience of marshes is critical for understanding their role in reducing storm damages and for helping to manage the recovery of these natural defenses. This study uses high-resolution aerial imagery to quantify the impacts of Hurricane Michael, a category 5 hurricane, on coastal salt marshes in the Florida Panhandle, USA. Marsh damage was classified into several categories, including deposition of sediment or wrack, fallen trees, vegetation loss, and conversion to open water. The marshes were highly resistant to storm damages even under extreme conditions; only 2% of the 173,259 km² of marshes in the study area were damaged-a failure rate much lower than that of artificial defenses. Marshes may be more resistant than resilient to storm impacts; damaged marshes were slow to recover, and only 16% of damaged marshes had recovered 6 months after landfall. Marsh management mattered for resistance and resilience; marshes on publicly-managed lands were less likely to be damaged and more likely to recover quickly from storm impacts than marshes on private land, emphasizing the need to incentivize marsh management on private lands. These results directly inform policy and practice for hazard mitigation, disaster recovery, adaptation, and conservation, particularly given the potential for more intense hurricane landfalls as the climate changes.

SUBMITTER: Castagno KA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8516897 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Resistance, resilience, and recovery of salt marshes in the Florida Panhandle following Hurricane Michael.

Castagno Katherine A KA Tomiczek Tori T Shepard Christine C CC Beck Michael W MW Bowden Alison A AA O'Donnell Kiera K Scyphers Steven B SB

Scientific reports 20211014 1

Characterizing the fragility, resistance, and resilience of marshes is critical for understanding their role in reducing storm damages and for helping to manage the recovery of these natural defenses. This study uses high-resolution aerial imagery to quantify the impacts of Hurricane Michael, a category 5 hurricane, on coastal salt marshes in the Florida Panhandle, USA. Marsh damage was classified into several categories, including deposition of sediment or wrack, fallen trees, vegetation loss, ...[more]

PMID: 34650127

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Project description:Studies of effects of hurricanes on perinatal outcomes often rely on approximate measures of exposure. This study aims to use observed damage from aerial imagery to refine residential building damage estimates, evaluate the population changes post landfall, and assess the associations between the extent of residential building damage and adverse perinatal outcomes and access to prenatal care (PNC) services. METHODS: Vital statistics data from the Florida Department of Health's Office of Vital Statistics were used to align maternal geocoded address data to high-resolution imagery (0.5-foot resolution, true color with red, blue, and green bands) aerial photographs. Machine learning (support vector machines) classified residential roof damage across the study area. Perinatal outcomes were compared with the presence or absence of damage to the mother's home. Log-binomial regression models were used to compare the populations living in and outside of high-risk/damage areas, to assess the population changes after Hurricane Michael, and to estimate the associations between damage after Hurricane Michael and adverse perinatal outcomes/access to PNC services. A semi-parametric linear model was used to model time of first PNC visit and increase in damage. We included 8,965 women in analysis. Women with lower education and/or of Black or other non-White race/ethnicity were more likely to live in areas that would see high damage than other groups. Moreover, there was a greater proportion of births delivered by women living in the high-risk/damage area (> 25% damaged parcels after Michael) in the year before Michael than the year after Michael. Lastly, living in the area with relatively high damage increased the risk of having intermediate or inadequate PNC (adjusted Risk Ratio = 1.21, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.43), but not other adverse perinatal outcomes. Aerially observed damage data enable us to evaluate the impact of natural disasters on perinatal outcomes and access to PNC services based on residential building damage immediately surrounding a household. The association between the extent of damage and adverse perinatal outcomes should be further investigated in future studies.

Dataset Information

Resistance, resilience, and recovery of salt marshes in the Florida Panhandle following Hurricane Michael.

Publications

Resistance, resilience, and recovery of salt marshes in the Florida Panhandle following Hurricane Michael.

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