Does vegetation prevent wave erosion of salt marsh edges?
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Feagin RA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2694034 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Does vegetation prevent wave erosion of salt marsh edges?
Feagin R A RA Lozada-Bernard S M SM Ravens T M TM Möller I I Yeager K M KM Baird A H AH
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20090609 25
This study challenges the paradigm that salt marsh plants prevent lateral wave-induced erosion along wetland edges by binding soil with live roots and clarifies the role of vegetation in protecting the coast. In both laboratory flume studies and controlled field experiments, we show that common salt marsh plants do not significantly mitigate the total amount of erosion along a wetland edge. We found that the soil type is the primary variable that influences the lateral erosion rate and although ...[more]
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