Can Salt Marshes Survive Sea Level Rise (On Top Of Everything Else)?
Shimon C. Anisfeld
Senior Lecturer and Research Scientist in Water Resources and Environmental Chemistry, Yale F&ES
Salt marshes in Long Island Sound face a variety of stressors,
including sea‐level rise, nutrient pollution, changes in
hydrology and sediment supply, and increases in abundance of
herbivores like the purple marsh crab. The Anisfeld lab has
been studying these threats using a variety of techniques from
experimental manipulation of nutrient loads and crab access
to examination of accretion history using sediment cores. Our
data tell a complex story of marshes struggling with mixed
success to keep up with sea‐level rise.
While sea‐level rise poses the threat of marsh drowning at the
seaward edge, it also provides marshes with an opportunity to
migrate into areas that are newly under tidal influence. We
have been studying this process at state parks in Connecticut,
trying to determine how migration works in our highly
modified landscapes, and whether management techniques
(like altering mowing regimes) can accelerate this transition.
12:00‐1:00 FREE EVENT in Burke Auditorium, Kroon Hall
Lunch will be provided – first come, first served