RAPID Collaborative Research: Do mangroves provide better coastal protection than salt marshes? A Hurricane Harvey case study from Port Aransas, Texas, USA

RAPID 合作研究：红树林是否比盐沼提供更好的海岸保护？

• 批准号: 1761428
• 负责人: Steven Pennings
• 金额: $ 2.91万
• 依托单位: University of Houston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-10-01 至 2019-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1761428&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Collaborative; Research; Do; mangroves

Coastal marshes provide critical ecosystem services, including erosion prevention and shoreline protection from storm surges that often result when hurricanes make landfall. For several years, vegetation in coastal wetlands has been shifting from grasses and forbs to taller, woody mangroves, raising concerns about the impact these changes may have on these important ecosystem services. Over the past several years, scientists have been conducting a large mangrove removal experiment to study the ecological consequences of mangrove expansion near Port Aransas, Texas. Hurricane Harvey made landfall near this experiment, providing an unprecedented opportunity to study the immediate impacts of mangrove expansion on shoreline protection and other vital ecosystem services. This RAPID award will allow scientists to gain knowledge on the role of coastal wetlands that will be extremely valuable to coastal managers responsible for restoration and management projects along shorelines vulnerable to future hurricanes.This research will provide a critical understanding of the impact of mangrove expansion on the role of coastal wetlands in the provision of critical ecosystem services in response to intense storms. Hurricane Harvey provides a unique opportunity to answer a critical question - do mangroves provide fundamentally different shoreline protection than the low stature grasses and forbs they replace? The researchers conducting this study are using a pre-existing mangrove removal experiment that was in the path of the hurricane to test the hypothesis that large woody plants like mangroves are better able to resist these large storms, and therefore provide improved shoreline protection. This work will also provide a better conceptual understanding to the role of biotic factors in regulating the impact of large storms. This information is of critical importance to land managers responsible for restoring the ecosystem services coastal wetlands can provide.

沿海沼泽提供重要的生态系统服务，包括防止侵蚀和保护海岸线免受飓风登陆时经常产生的风暴潮影响。多年来，沿海湿地的植被已经从禾本科植物和杂草转向更高的木本红树林，引发了人们对这些变化可能对这些重要生态系统服务产生影响的担忧。在过去的几年里，科学家们一直在进行大型红树林清除实验，以研究德克萨斯州阿兰萨斯港附近红树林扩张的生态后果。飓风哈维在该实验附近登陆，为研究红树林扩张对海岸线保护和其他重要生态系统服务的直接影响提供了前所未有的机会。 该 RAPID 奖项将使科学家能够了解沿海湿地的作用，这对于负责沿易受未来飓风影响的海岸线恢复和管理项目的沿海管理者来说非常有价值。这项研究将为红树林扩张对沿海湿地在提供关键生态系统服务以应对强烈风暴方面的作用。飓风哈维提供了一个独特的机会来回答一个关键问题：红树林提供的海岸线保护是否与其所取代的低矮草和杂草完全不同？ 进行这项研究的研究人员正在利用飓风路径上现有的红树林清除实验来检验这样的假设：红树林等大型木本植物能够更好地抵御这些大型风暴，从而提供更好的海岸线保护。这项工作还将为生物因素在调节大型风暴影响中的作用提供更好的概念理解。这些信息对于负责恢复沿海湿地可提供的生态系统服务的土地管理者至关重要。

项目成果

Resistance to Hurricane Effects Varies Among Wetland Vegetation Types in the Marsh-Mangrove Ecotone

沼泽-红树林交错带湿地植被类型对飓风影响的抵抗力存在差异

• DOI: 10.1007/s12237-019-00577-3
• 发表时间: 2019-05
• 期刊: Estuaries and Coasts
• 影响因子: 2.7
• 作者: Armitage, Anna R.;Weaver, Carolyn A.;Kominoski, John S.;Pennings, Steven C.
• 通讯作者: Pennings, Steven C.