Distribution and disturbances of ditches across salt marshes of the Northeast U.S. with implications for management and restoration.
Fuente:
PubMed
Enregistré dans:
| Auteurs principaux: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Artículo científico |
| Langue: | en |
| Publié: |
Journal of environmental management
2025
|
| Sujets: | |
| Accès en ligne: | |
| Tags: |
Ajouter un tag
Pas de tags, Soyez le premier à ajouter un tag!
|
| _version_ | 1868266242333212674 |
|---|---|
| author | Peck, Erin K Walker, Julie E Ackerman, Katherine V Carr, Joel Correll, Maureen D Defne, Zafer Deegan, Linda A Eaton, Mitchell J Ganju, Neil K Hartley, Mitch Johnson, Catherine Mercer, Jason Ruskin, Katharine J Woodruff, Jonathan D Yellen, Brian |
| author_facet | Peck, Erin K Walker, Julie E Ackerman, Katherine V Carr, Joel Correll, Maureen D Defne, Zafer Deegan, Linda A Eaton, Mitchell J Ganju, Neil K Hartley, Mitch Johnson, Catherine Mercer, Jason Ruskin, Katharine J Woodruff, Jonathan D Yellen, Brian Peck, Erin K Walker, Julie E Ackerman, Katherine V Carr, Joel Correll, Maureen D Defne, Zafer Deegan, Linda A Eaton, Mitchell J Ganju, Neil K Hartley, Mitch Johnson, Catherine Mercer, Jason Ruskin, Katharine J Woodruff, Jonathan D Yellen, Brian |
| collection | PubMed - marine biology |
| contents | Distribution and disturbances of ditches across salt marshes of the Northeast U.S. with implications for management and restoration. Peck, Erin K Walker, Julie E Ackerman, Katherine V Carr, Joel Correll, Maureen D Defne, Zafer Deegan, Linda A Eaton, Mitchell J Ganju, Neil K Hartley, Mitch Johnson, Catherine Mercer, Jason Ruskin, Katharine J Woodruff, Jonathan D Yellen, Brian Wetlands Conservation of Natural Resources Agriculture Effective management of valuable coastal systems, such as salt marshes requires an understanding of the complex stressors influencing their continued threat of drowning. However, efforts to determine the effects of one potential stressor, ditches, have produced diverging results complicating management efforts. Ditches (linear trenches dug to drain salt marshes for agriculture and mosquito control) alter salt marsh hydrology, but their effects on widescale marsh function and degradation are poorly understood. We created a dataset of visible ditches and summarized ditch densities (length of ditches over area) for salt marshes of the Northeast U.S. to evaluate ditching against vulnerability metrics, including elevation and the unvegetated to vegetated marsh ratio (UVVR). We identified a scale dependency in which the larger/coarser the spatial scale of analysis, the greater the fraction of ditched salt marshes. Scale dependence explains discrepancies between previously determined ditch indices. In terms of effects on marsh vulnerability, relative elevation was not influenced by visible ditch presence. Ditch densities affected UVVR, exhibiting a multiple threshold behavior. When present at low densities, ditches have little effect on ponding; yet as ditch densities increase, UVVR (i.e., ponding) increases. The relationship between ditching and UVVR reverses at the highest ditch densities, with ponding substantially decreasing. The multiple threshold vulnerability response of Northeast salt marshes to the hydrologic influences imposed by ditching suggests restoration strategies should consider the degree of ditching rather than simply ditching presence. |
| format | Artículo científico |
| id | pubmed_39965492 |
| institution | PubMed |
| language | en |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| publisher | Journal of environmental management |
| record_format | pubmed |
| spellingShingle | Distribution and disturbances of ditches across salt marshes of the Northeast U.S. with implications for management and restoration. Peck, Erin K Walker, Julie E Ackerman, Katherine V Carr, Joel Correll, Maureen D Defne, Zafer Deegan, Linda A Eaton, Mitchell J Ganju, Neil K Hartley, Mitch Johnson, Catherine Mercer, Jason Ruskin, Katharine J Woodruff, Jonathan D Yellen, Brian Wetlands Conservation of Natural Resources Agriculture Distribution and disturbances of ditches across salt marshes of the Northeast U.S. with implications for management and restoration. Peck, Erin K Walker, Julie E Ackerman, Katherine V Carr, Joel Correll, Maureen D Defne, Zafer Deegan, Linda A Eaton, Mitchell J Ganju, Neil K Hartley, Mitch Johnson, Catherine Mercer, Jason Ruskin, Katharine J Woodruff, Jonathan D Yellen, Brian Wetlands Conservation of Natural Resources Agriculture Effective management of valuable coastal systems, such as salt marshes requires an understanding of the complex stressors influencing their continued threat of drowning. However, efforts to determine the effects of one potential stressor, ditches, have produced diverging results complicating management efforts. Ditches (linear trenches dug to drain salt marshes for agriculture and mosquito control) alter salt marsh hydrology, but their effects on widescale marsh function and degradation are poorly understood. We created a dataset of visible ditches and summarized ditch densities (length of ditches over area) for salt marshes of the Northeast U.S. to evaluate ditching against vulnerability metrics, including elevation and the unvegetated to vegetated marsh ratio (UVVR). We identified a scale dependency in which the larger/coarser the spatial scale of analysis, the greater the fraction of ditched salt marshes. Scale dependence explains discrepancies between previously determined ditch indices. In terms of effects on marsh vulnerability, relative elevation was not influenced by visible ditch presence. Ditch densities affected UVVR, exhibiting a multiple threshold behavior. When present at low densities, ditches have little effect on ponding; yet as ditch densities increase, UVVR (i.e., ponding) increases. The relationship between ditching and UVVR reverses at the highest ditch densities, with ponding substantially decreasing. The multiple threshold vulnerability response of Northeast salt marshes to the hydrologic influences imposed by ditching suggests restoration strategies should consider the degree of ditching rather than simply ditching presence. |
| title | Distribution and disturbances of ditches across salt marshes of the Northeast U.S. with implications for management and restoration. |
| topic | Wetlands Conservation of Natural Resources Agriculture |
| url | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39965492/ |