The Wax Lake Delta (WLD) is an actively prograding delta in the Mississippi River Delta Plain that is otherwise experiencing widespread degradation and submergence of its coastal wetlands. The WLD is actively accumulating mineral and organic sediment that increases soil surface elevation, changing emergent wetland communities as the young delta develops. There is uncertainty in how the dynamics of community composition respond to net changes in soil elevation and determine aboveground biomass and carbon storage. This study utilizes high resolution imaging spectrometer data captured on October 17, 2016, to map the delta's dominant vegetation species and wetland types. We validated this vegetation map (overall accuracy = 77.62%, Kappa = 0.72) and compared it with a published species map that used WorldView-2 data collected five years earlier on October 16, 2011. This allowed us to map changes resulting from five years of delta development to determine changes in wetland forest species (Salix nigra), two dominant herbaceous wetland species (Colocasia esculenta and Polygonum punctatum), and various grass species. Results show an increase in C. esculenta and a marginal increase in forested wetlands (S. nigra). C. esculenta's expansion occurred largely from the delta island heads toward the fringes into wetland area previously occupied by P. punctatum, which saw a corresponding decline. Additionally, this study leveraged these species distributions with a published aboveground biomass (AGB) dataset to examine the dominant plant types' growth patterns across elevational gradients. We characterized variability in AGB by marsh platform elevation and across different elevational zones categorized by hydroperiod, or hydrogeomorphic zones. We found that the herbaceous plant species peak in AGB in the low intertidal zone and decrease with elevation before increasing slightly in the higher elevations, consistent with previous field-based mesocosm experiments for C. esculenta. With vegetation distributions, succession, and growth patterns in the WLD characterized, this study may inform future restoration efforts throughout the Mississippi River Delta Plain regarding the changing vegetation composition that may emerge following changes in surface elevation with sediment deposition.

蜡质湖三角洲（WLD）是密西西比河三角洲平原上一个活跃的三角洲，否则其沿海湿地正在普遍退化和淹没。WLD正在积极积累矿物质和有机沉积物，从而增加了土壤表面高度，并随着年轻三角洲的发展而改变了新兴湿地群落。群落组成的动态如何响应土壤海拔的净变化并确定地上生物量和碳储量尚不确定。这项研究利用2016年10月17日捕获的高分辨率成像光谱仪数据绘制三角洲的主要植被物种和湿地类型。我们验证了这张植被图（总体准确度= 77.62％，卡帕= 0。黑柳（Salix nigra），两种优势草本湿地物种（Colocasia esculenta和Polygonum punctatum），以及各种草种。结果表明，C草的增加和森林湿地（S. nigra）的少量增加。C. esculenta的扩张主要是从三角洲的岛首向边缘扩展到先前被P. punctatum占据的湿地地区。，相应下降。此外，这项研究还利用这些物种分布与已发布的地上生物量（AGB）数据集，研究了海拔梯度上优势植物类型的生长方式。我们通过沼泽平台高程以及按水文时段或水文地貌带分类的不同高程带来表征AGB的变异性。我们发现，草本植物物种在潮间带低带的AGB处达到峰值，并随海拔的升高而降低，然后在较高的海拔高度上则略有增加，这与以前对esculenta的基于田间的中观实验相一致。。借助WLD中植被分布，演替和生长模式的特征，本研究可以为密西西比河三角洲平原未来的修复工作提供参考，这些研究涉及随着沉积物表面高度变化而出现的植被组成变化。