Morphological wave attenuation of the nature-based flood defense: A case study from Chongming Dongtan Shoal, China

The risk of coastal storm flooding is deteriorating under global warming, especially for the heavily urbanized deltaic cities, like Shanghai. The Nature-Based Flood Defense (NBFD), as an eco-friendly design alternative for hard infrastructure against coastal flooding, is gaining attention. Nevertheless, the vulnerability of saltmarsh due to...

Plant traits determining biogeomorphic landscape dynamics: A study on clonal expansion strategies driving cliff formation at marsh edges

Despite the well-recognized importance of plant traits for biogeomorphic development of landscapes, our understanding remains limited of how species-specific plant traits respond to and serve as drivers for the sedimentary dynamics within a biogeomorphic landscape. By manipulating a series of laboratory experiments, using mesocosms and a...

Salt marsh establishment in poorly consolidated muddy systems: effects of surface drainage, elevation, and plant age

Conservation and restoration of salt marsh ecosystems are becoming increasingly important because of the many ecosystem services they provide. However, the processes controlling salt marsh establishment and persistence, especially on bare tidal flats in muddy areas, remain unclear. As muddy sediments typically experience a restriction of soil...

Synchronized high-resolution bed-level change and biophysical data from 10 marsh-mudflat sites in northwestern Europe

Tidal flats provide valuable ecosystem services such as flood protection and carbon sequestration. Erosion and accretion processes govern the ecogeomorphic evolution of intertidal ecosystems (marshes and bare flats) and, hence, substantially affect their valuable ecosystem services. To understand the intertidal ecosystem development, high...

Historic storms and the hidden value of coastal wetlands for nature-based flood defence

Global change amplifies coastal flood risks and motivates a paradigm shift towards nature-based coastal defence, where engineered structures are supplemented with coastal wetlands such as saltmarshes. Although experiments and models indicate that such natural defences can attenuate storm waves, there is still limited field evidence on how...

Stem breakage of salt marsh vegetation under wave forcing: A field and model study

One of the services provided by coastal ecosystems is wave attenuation by vegetation, and subsequent reduction of wave loads on flood defense structures. Therefore, stability of vegetation under wave forcing is an important factor to consider. This paper presents a model which determines the wave load that plant stems can withstand before...