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Restoring Fringing Tidal Marshes for Ecological Function and Ecosystem Resilience to Moderate Sea-level Rise in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

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Abstract

Tidal marshes are increasingly vulnerable to degradation or loss from eutrophication, land-use changes, and accelerating sea-level rise, making restoration necessary to recover ecosystem services. To evaluate effects of restoration planting density and sea-level rise on ecosystem function (i.e., nitrogen removal), we restored three marshes, which differed in elevation, at Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Alabama, USA and planted them with Juncus roemerianus sods at 0, 25, 50, 75, or 100% initial cover. We simulated future sea level using passive weirs that increased flooding during low tide. Because additional species emerged shortly after transplantation, we also tested for treatment effects on community structure. In all marshes, species richness increased following restoration, regardless of treatments, while relative abundances of new species tended to increase with increasing initial cover. Plant percent cover increased with increasing initial cover in all marshes, with similar vegetated cover at 50, 75, and 100% after 3 years in the highest elevation marsh. Porewater dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentrations ([DIN]) decreased with increasing initial cover in all marshes, and were significantly lower in 50, 75, and 100% treatments than 0 or 25% after 1 year. Furthermore, [DIN] was similarly low among 50, 75, and 100% treatments when elevation capital was highest. These results suggest that intermediate initial cover (50%) can recover plant cover and promote nitrogen removal when elevation capital is adequate at relatively lower labor and material costs than planting at higher cover, thereby maximizing restoration outcomes in the face of low to moderate sea-level rise.

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Data Availability

Data are available through Mississippi State University’s data repository at https://hdl.handle.net/11668/20891.

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Acknowledgements

Grant NA09NOS4190153 from the NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserves System (NERRS) Science Collaborative Program and the US Fish and Wildlife Service Northern Gulf Coastal Program provided funds for marsh restoration and weir construction. We thank George Ramseur, Jr. for assistance with weir design, Bart Christiaen, Rachel Gamble, Josh Goff, Reid Harvey, Amanda Hunt, Aaron Macy, Ashley McDonald, Diana Montemayor, Shailesh Sharma, Caitlin Wessel, Mike Corporal, and Ryan Wedell for assistance with weir construction, installation, and nutrient measurements, and the Management Application Team for providing input that significantly enhanced the applicability of this research. Dr. Juan Alberti provided suggestions regarding split-split plot statistical models.

Authors’ Contributions

SM: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Writing—original draft, Visualization; ELS: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Data Curation, Writing—original draft, Supervision, Project Administration; AJC: Investigation, Writing—review & editing, Visualization; Just Cebrian: Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Resources, Writing—review & editing, Supervision, Project Administration, Funding Acquisition; JAC: Conceptualization, Methodology, Validation, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data Curation, Writing—original draft; Visualization, Supervision, Project Administration, Funding Acquisition.

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Correspondence to Julia A. Cherry.

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Martin, S., Sparks, E.L., Constantin, A.J. et al. Restoring Fringing Tidal Marshes for Ecological Function and Ecosystem Resilience to Moderate Sea-level Rise in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Environmental Management 67, 384–397 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01410-5

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