Coastal wetlands play a vital role in protecting coastlines, which makes the loss of forested and emergent wetlands devastating for vulnerable coastal communities. Tidal creeks are relatively small hydrologic areas that feed into larger estuaries, are on the front lines of the interface between saltwater and freshwater ecosystems, and are potentially the first areas to experience changes in sea level. The goal of this study was to investigate wetland changes through time at two tidal creeks (Smith Creek and Town Creek) of the Cape Fear River estuary in southeastern North Carolina, USA, to determine if there is a spatial relationship between habitat change, physical geography characteristics, and the rate of wetland migration upstream. Historic aerial photography and recent satellite imagery were used to map land cover and compute change through time and were compared with derived physical geography metrics (sinuosity, creek width, floodplain width, floodplain elevation, and creek slope). The primary results were: (1) there was a net gain in emergent wetlands even accounting for the area of wetlands that became water, (2) wetlands have migrated upstream at an increasing rate through time, (3) land cover change was significantly different between the two creeks (P = 0.01) where 14% (67.5 ha) of Smith Creek and 18% (272.3 ha) of Town Creek transitioned from forest to emergent wetland, and (4) the transition from emergent wetland to water was significantly related to average change in creek width, floodplain elevation, and average water level. In conclusion, this research correlated habitat change with rising water level and identified similarities and differences between neighboring tidal creeks. Future research could apply the methodologies developed here to other coastal locations to further explore the relationships between tides, sea level, land cover change, and physical geography characteristics.

中文翻译：

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潮汐河湿地变化，水位上升和鬼林的多年代研究

沿海湿地在保护海岸线方面起着至关重要的作用，这使森林和紧急湿地的丧失对脆弱的沿海社区造成破坏。潮汐河是相对较小的水文区域，可进入较大的河口，位于盐水和淡水生态系统之间的交界处的前线，并且可能是最早经历海平面变化的地区。这项研究的目的是调查美国北卡罗莱纳州东南部的开普菲尔河河口的两个潮汐小溪（史密斯溪和镇溪）的湿地变化，以确定栖息地变化与自然地理之间是否存在空间关系。特征，以​​及湿地向上游的迁移速度。历史航空摄影和最近的卫星图像被用于绘制土地覆盖图并计算随时间的变化，并与导出的自然地理指标（弯曲度，小河宽度，洪泛区宽度，洪泛区标高和小溪坡度）进行比较。主要结果是：（1）即使考虑到变成水的湿地面积，新出现的湿地也有净收益；（2）湿地随着时间的流逝向上游迁移的速度更快；（3）土地覆盖变化显着不同在两个小溪之间（P = 0.01），其中史密斯溪的14％（67.5公顷）和汤姆溪的18％（272.3公顷）从森林过渡到紧急湿地，并且（4）从紧急湿地向水的过渡显着相关对小河宽度，洪泛区海拔和平均水位的平均变化。结论，这项研究将栖息地变化与水位上升相关联，并确定了相邻潮汐小溪之间的异同。未来的研究可以将此处开发的方法应用于其他沿海地区，以进一步探索潮汐，海平面，土地覆盖变化和自然地理特征之间的关系。