53 Coastal restoration
Kim de Mutsert
Coastal restoration projects, especially wetland recreation, benefit marine and coastal species by restoring habitat that serves as important nursery grounds[1] [2]. The construction phase of the project and/or the environmental changes of the area under restoration are likely to have effects on the species currently residing in that area, and the impact of those changes need to be assessed. Coastal restoration projects are different from other construction projects that may affect species assemblages in that the long-term effects on the natural environment are aimed to be positive, and the future without restoration is likely to negatively affect coastal species over the long term.[3]
Ecospace is uniquely equipped to assess the effects of these environmental changes on fish and shellfish communities, as it can evaluate relatively short-term effects (months to years) of the construction/environmental disruption, as well as the long-term effects (decades) of having a restored environment on coastal and marine species that make use of that environment (for part of their life) over generations. By comparing this outcome to a future without action, the difference between taking this action or not can be evaluated over the short-term and the long-term.
A notable example of an area where large restoration projects are occurring and are planned is the Mississippi River Delta in the United States. In addition to various other coastal restoration and protection projects, the construction of large sediment diversions is planned, which are floodgates at select locations along the lower Mississippi River designed to let river water and sediments back into wetlands that were cut off from freshwater inflow by river levees in recent history (CPRA[4]). The introduction of freshwater and sediment through these floodgates will alter the environment of the receiving estuaries by reducing salinity, and increasing turbidity, nutrient concentrations, and wetland acreage amongst other changes.[5] [6] Ecospace models developed to evaluate potential effects on fish and fisheries of these projects were included in resource managers’ decisions on diversion flow regime and location[7](Figure 1).
The models provided anticipated redistribution of species[8] [9], and demonstrated the potential impact of sea level rise on the anticipated outcome. This approach needs a coupled modeling framework, since Ecospace will simulate the effects on fish and fisheries of the environmental change that occurs as a result of diversion openings and restoration projects, while the environmental change itself (e.g., salinity, amount of habitat) needs to be simulated by different models[10] [11] [12].
Figure 1 – Conceptual diagram of coupled modeling framework used in the Mississippi River Delta model[13].
Attribution
The chapter is based on de Mutsert K, Marta Coll, Jeroen Steenbeek, Cameron Ainsworth, Joe Buszowski, David Chagaris, Villy Christensen, Sheila J.J. Heymans, Kristy A. Lewis, Simone Libralato, Greig Oldford, Chiara Piroddi, Giovanni Romagnoni, Natalia Serpetti, Michael Spence, Carl Walters. 2023. Advances in spatial-temporal coastal and marine ecosystem modeling using Ecopath with Ecosim and Ecospace. Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science, 2nd Edition. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-90798-9.00035-4, adapted with permission, License Number 5651431253138.
Rather than citing this chapter, please cite the source.
- Minello, T.J., Able, K.W., Weinstein, M.P., Hays, C.G., 2003. Salt marshes as nurseries for nekton: testing hypotheses on density, growth and survival through meta-analysis. Marine Ecology Progress Series 246, 39–59. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps246039 ↵
- Schulz, K., Stevens, P.W., Hill, J.E., Trotter, A.A., Ritch, J.L., Tuckett, Q.M., Patterson, J.T., 2020. restoration evaluated using dominant habitat characteristics and associated fish communities. PLOS ONE 15, e0240623. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240623 ↵
- Rozas, L.P., Caldwell, P., Minello, T.J., 2005. The Fishery Value of Salt Marsh Restoration Projects. Journal of Coastal Research 37–50. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25736614 ↵
- CPRA, 2017. Louisiana’s Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast. Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. ↵
- Baustian, M.M., Meselhe, E., Jung, H., Sadid, K., Duke-Sylvester, S.M., Visser, J.M., Allison, M.A., Moss, L.C., Ramatchandirane, C., Sebastiaan van Maren, D., Jeuken, M., Bargu, S., 2018. Development of an Integrated Biophysical Model to represent morphological and ecological processes in a changing deltaic and coastal ecosystem. Environmental Modelling & Software 109, 402–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2018.05.019 ↵
- Das, A., Justic, D., Inoue, M., Hoda, A., Huang, H., Park, D., 2012. Impacts of Mississippi River diversions on salinity gradients in a deltaic Louisiana estuary: Ecological and management implications. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 111, 17–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2012.06.005 ↵
- De Mutsert, K., Lewis, K., Milroy, S., Buszowski, J., Steenbeek, J., 2017. Using ecosystem modeling to evaluate trade-offs in coastal management: Effects of large-scale river diversions on fish and fisheries. Ecological Modelling 360, 14–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2017.06.029 ↵
- De Mutsert et al. 2017, op. cit. ↵
- De Mutsert, K., Lewis, K.A., White, E.D., Buszowski, J., 2021. End-to-End Modeling Reveals Species-Specific Effects of Large-Scale Coastal Restoration on Living Resources Facing Climate Change. Front. Mar. Sci. 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.624532 ↵
- Baustian, M.M., Meselhe, E., Jung, H., Sadid, K., Duke-Sylvester, S.M., Visser, J.M., Allison, M.A., Moss, L.C., Ramatchandirane, C., Sebastiaan van Maren, D., Jeuken, M., Bargu, S., 2018. Development of an Integrated Biophysical Model to represent morphological and ecological processes in a changing deltaic and coastal ecosystem. Environmental Modelling & Software 109, 402–419. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2018.05.019 ↵
- Meselhe, E., Wang, Y., White, E., Jung, H., Baustian, M.M., Hemmerling, S., Barra, M., Bienn, H., 2020. Knowledge-Based Predictive Tools to Assess Effectiveness of Natural and Nature-Based Solutions for Coastal Restoration and Protection Planning. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering 146, 05019007. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001659 ↵
- White, E.D., Meselhe, E., Reed, D., Renfro, A., Snider, N.P., Wang, Y., 2019. Mitigating the Effects of Sea-Level Rise on Estuaries of the Mississippi Delta Plain Using River Diversions. Water 11, 2028. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11102028 ↵
- Reproduced under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED from De Mutsert et al. 2017, op. cit ↵
