Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA.
Department of Biology and the Coastal Studies Institute, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Integr Environ Assess Manag. 2022 Jan;18(1):82-98. doi: 10.1002/ieam.4447. Epub 2021 Jun 3.
A growing suite of research has demonstrated that nature-based shoreline stabilization methods can increase resilience of coastal ecosystems by improving their capacity to return to predisturbance states. Previous work suggests that during hurricanes, living shorelines promote vertical accretion and experience less damage than traditional shoreline stabilization alternatives. Nevertheless, there is limited research looking at the impacts of major storm events on living shorelines and most studies have investigated a small number of sites. This study used in situ real-time kinematic (RTK)-GPS surveys to quantify the resilience (via the lateral change in shore position) of 17 living shoreline sites before and after a Category 1 hurricane event (Hurricane Florence, 2018). By doing so, this study seeks to understand the capacity of living shorelines (marsh with seaward breakwater or sill) to provide storm protection as compared to unaltered natural fringing salt marshes. After Hurricane Florence, living shorelines on average experienced significantly less lateral erosion compared to unprotected control segments (shoreline change rates of 0.015 and -0.31 m year , respectively). This study also explores how environmental siting variables (i.e., scarp presence, fetch, and bottom sediment) and sill design variables (i.e., sill material, width, and height) influence short- and long-term erosion. living shorelines were found to reduce erosion of fringing marsh edge among projects with a range of installation ages, structural materials, sill widths, and sill heights, and they were able to provide protection from erosion across a range of fetch, scarp, and bottom sediment conditions. Living shoreline siting and sill design may be suitable for broader environmental conditions than previously known. This study shows that living shorelines can increase resilience by reducing erosion of fringing salt marshes, promoting lateral building up of shoreline zones during short-term disturbance events, and from their long-term presence. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:82-98. © 2021 SETAC.
越来越多的研究表明，基于自然的海岸稳定方法可以通过提高生态系统恢复到原有状态的能力来增强沿海生态系统的弹性。先前的研究表明，在飓风期间，生物海岸促进了垂直加积，并且比传统的海岸稳定替代方法遭受的破坏更小。然而，对于生物海岸受重大风暴事件的影响的研究有限，而且大多数研究都只调查了少数几个地点。本研究使用原地实时动态（RTK）-GPS 测量来量化 17 个生物海岸地点在 1 级飓风事件（2018 年佛罗伦萨飓风）前后的恢复力（通过岸线位置的侧向变化来衡量）。通过这样做，本研究旨在了解生物海岸（带向海防波堤或门槛的沼泽）与未改变的天然边缘盐沼相比提供风暴保护的能力。在佛罗伦萨飓风之后，与未受保护的对照段相比，生物海岸的平均侧向侵蚀明显较小（分别为 0.015 和-0.31 m/年的岸线变化率）。本研究还探讨了环境选址变量（即悬崖存在、冲刷区和底部沉积物）和门槛设计变量（即门槛材料、宽度和高度）如何影响短期和长期侵蚀。发现生物海岸可以减少各种安装年龄、结构材料、门槛宽度和门槛高度的项目中边缘盐沼的侵蚀，并能够在各种冲刷区、悬崖和底部沉积物条件下提供防侵蚀保护。生物海岸的选址和门槛设计可能适合比以前已知的更广泛的环境条件。本研究表明，生物海岸可以通过减少边缘盐沼的侵蚀、在短期干扰事件中促进岸线区域的侧向增长以及长期存在来提高恢复力。
