The spatiotemporal development of two shellfish populations and their associated filtration capacity on a living shoreline near Milford, Delaware, USA

Moody, Joshua; Bouboulis, Sarah A.; Haaf, LeeAnn; Rothermel, Ella R.; Kreeger, Danielle

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2022.106661

Cited by 5 publications

References 41 publications

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Co-Funding Robust Monitoring with Living Shoreline Construction is Critical for Maximizing Beneficial Outcomes

Baker,

Gittman

2024

Estuaries and Coasts

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Huge sums of money (billions) are being spent to combat the loss of valuable coastal ecosystems and human infrastructure through the stabilization of shorelines. The last several decades have seen a large push towards the implementation of nature-based approaches, or living shorelines (LS), that seek to both stabilize shorelines and promote or enhance ecosystem functions and services. A growing body of research has demonstrated ecological benefits of LS restorations. However, our ability to identify specific LS designs or features that most enhance particular ecosystem functions or services remains limited. As a result, we can provide limited guidance on the best designs for future LS projects that will maximize their ecological benefits, and therefore return on investment. Every restoration project is essentially an experiment that can provide rich knowledge of the ecological outcomes, but only if the relevant research and monitoring is properly funded and that information is made widely available to practitioners. Despite the investment of billions of dollars into LS projects, considerably fewer funds are being directed towards research, monitoring, and assessment of these projects. In many cases, funding for monitoring only becomes available after the projects are installed, meaning we are frequently forced to use space-for-time substitution rather than more rigorous and robust designs that include sampling before construction. We call for funding agencies to embed funding for robust monitoring and assessment of these projects, to allow for a greater understanding of the successes and failures, and to more wisely guide future projects.

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Co-Funding Robust Monitoring with Living Shoreline Construction is Critical for Maximizing Beneficial Outcomes

Baker,

Gittman

2024

Estuaries and Coasts

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Seven Years of Monitoring the Development of an Oyster Reef Living Shoreline

Shinn,

Bredes,

Bushek

et al. 2024

Estuaries and Coasts

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The implementation of nature-based solutions (NbS), including living shorelines, to mitigate estuarine habitat loss is increasing at a pace exceeding the evaluation of their long-term success. Constructed oyster reefs (CORs) made of shell, concrete, stone, and other materials are one living shoreline tactic that is widely utilized, yet few studies have been conducted to understand the development of CORs within the context of both physical and ecological parameters over longer time scales (4 + years). A COR-based living shoreline project at the Gandy’s Beach Preserve (GBP) in Delaware Bay, NJ, USA, had dual goals of coastal protection and habitat provisioning, which prompted the development of a goal-driven monitoring framework to track project objectives. Methods were developed to quantify the following multi-disciplinary metrics over 7 years: elevations of CORs, waves (height, period, and direction), shoreline elevations, change in extent of vegetation patches, oyster density and size, nekton richness and community composition, and horseshoe crab impingement. The CORs met most of their habitat provisioning objectives as they were colonized by a multi-generational population of shellfish and created habitat for nekton, while posing negligible hazards to horseshoe crabs. However, none of the coastal protection objectives was fully achieved including material stability, wave attenuation, and sediment elevation increase. Results highlight the value of longer-term monitoring to understand performance and the need to match the scale and type of NbS tactic(s) with both the scale of the landscape and the site-specific hydrodynamic conditions to meet project goals.

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Environmental Disturbances and Restoration of Salt Marshes

Weis,

Windham-Myers

2024

Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science (Second Edition)

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The spatiotemporal development of two shellfish populations and their associated filtration capacity on a living shoreline near Milford, Delaware, USA

Cited by 5 publications

References 41 publications

Co-Funding Robust Monitoring with Living Shoreline Construction is Critical for Maximizing Beneficial Outcomes

Co-Funding Robust Monitoring with Living Shoreline Construction is Critical for Maximizing Beneficial Outcomes

Seven Years of Monitoring the Development of an Oyster Reef Living Shoreline

Environmental Disturbances and Restoration of Salt Marshes

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