In southern New England, salt marshes are exceptionally vulnerable to the impacts of accelerated sea level rise. Regional rates of sea level rise have been as much as 50 % greater than the global average over past decades, a more than fourfold increase over late Holocene background values. In addition, coastal development blocks many potential marsh migration routes, and compensatory mechanisms relying on positive feedbacks between inundation and sediment deposition are insufficient to counter inundation increases in extreme low-turbidity tidal waters. Accordingly, multiple lines of evidence suggest that marsh submergence is occurring in southern New England. A combination of monitoring data, field re-surveys, radiometric dating, and analysis of peat composition have established that, beginning in the early and mid-twentieth century, the dominant low-marsh plant, Spartina alterniflora, has encroached upward in tidal marshes, and typical high-marsh plants, including Juncus gerardii and Spartina patens, have declined, providing strong evidence that vegetation changes are being driven, at least in part, by higher water levels. Additionally, aerial and satellite imagery show shoreline retreat, widening and headward extension of channels, and new and expanded interior depressions. Papers in this special section highlight changes in marsh-building processes, patterns of vegetation loss, and shifts in species composition. The final papers turn to strategies for minimizing and coping with marsh loss by managing adaptively and planning for landward marsh migration. It is hoped that this collection offers lessons that will be of use to researchers and managers on coasts where relative sea level is not yet rising as fast as in southern New England.

中文翻译：

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新英格兰南部盐沼的人类世生存。

在新英格兰南部，盐沼特别容易受到海平面加速上升的影响。过去几十年来，区域海平面上升速度比全球平均水平高出 50%，是全新世晚期背景值的四倍多。此外，沿海开发阻碍了许多潜在的沼泽迁移路线，依赖于洪水和泥沙沉积之间正反馈的补偿机制不足以应对极低浊度潮汐水域洪水的增加。因此，多种证据表明新英格兰南部正在发生沼泽淹没。结合监测数据、实地重新调查、辐射测年和泥炭成分分析，已经确定，从二十世纪早期和中期开始，主要的低沼泽植物互花米草已经向上侵入潮汐沼泽，典型的高沼泽植物，包括灯心草和大米草，已经减少，这提供了强有力的证据，表明植被变化至少部分是由水位上升驱动的。此外，航空和卫星图像显示海岸线后退、河道加宽和向头延伸，以及新的和扩大的内部洼地。本专题部分的论文重点介绍了沼泽形成过程的变化、植被丧失的模式以及物种组成的变化。最后的论文转向通过适应性管理和规划向陆地沼泽迁移来最小化和应对沼泽损失的策略。希望这本书能够为沿海地区的研究人员和管理人员提供一些经验教训，这些沿海地区的相对海平面上升速度还没有新英格兰南部那么快。