Encouraging Living Shorelines over Shoreline Armoring: Insights from Property Owners Choices in the Chesapeake Bay

Abstract The nearshore land-water interface is an important ecological zone that faces anthropogenic pressure from development in coastal regions throughout the world. Coastal waters and estuaries like Chesapeake Bay receive and process land discharges loaded with anthropogenic nutrients and other pollutants that cause eutrophication, hypoxia, and other damage to shallow-water ecosystems. In addition, shorelines are increasingly armored with bulkhead (seawall), riprap, and other structures to protect human infrastructure against the threats of sea-level rise, storm surge, and erosion. Armoring can further influence estuarine and nearshore marine ecosystem functions by degrading water quality, spreading invasive species, and destroying ecologically valuable habitat. These detrimental effects on ecosystem function have ramifications for ecologically and economically important flora and fauna. This special issue of Estuaries and Coasts explores the interacting effects of coastal land use and shoreline armoring on estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems. The majority of papers focus on the Chesapeake Bay region, USA, where 50 major tributaries and an extensive watershed (~ 167,000 km2), provide an ideal model to examine the impacts of human activities at scales ranging from the local shoreline to the entire watershed. The papers consider the influence of watershed land use and natural versus armored shorelines on ecosystem properties and processes as well as on key natural resources.

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Correction to: Living Shorelines Support Nearshore Benthic Communities in Upper and Lower Chesapeake Bay

Estuaries and Coasts ◽

10.1007/s12237-018-00508-8 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 (3) ◽

pp. 915-915

Author(s):

Theresa M. Davenport ◽

Rochelle D. Seitz ◽

Kathleen E. Knick ◽

Nina Jackson

Keyword(s):

Chesapeake Bay ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Living Shorelines

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Living Shorelines Achieve Functional Equivalence to Natural Fringe Marshes across Multiple Ecological Metrics

10.1101/2021.04.06.438648 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Robert E Isdell ◽

Donna Marie Bilkovic ◽

Amanda Guthrie ◽

Molly M. Mitchell ◽

Randolph M. Chambers ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Private Property ◽

Adaptation Strategy ◽

Ecological Resilience ◽

Ecosystem Functions ◽

Large Spatial Scale ◽

Living Shorelines ◽

Coastal Adaptation ◽

Property Owners ◽

The Face ◽

Natural Counterpart

Nature-based features provide a welcome class of adaptations to promote ecological resilience in the face of climate change. Along coastlines, living shorelines are among the preferred adaptation strategies to both reduce erosion and provide ecological functions. As an alternative to shoreline armoring, living shorelines are viewed favorably among coastal managers, wetlands boards, and some private property owners, but they have yet to undergo a thorough examination of how their levels of ecosystem functions compare to their closest natural counterpart: fringing marshes. Here, we provide a synthesis of results from a multi-year, large-spatial-scale study in which we compared numerous ecological metrics measured in thirteen pairs of living shorelines and natural fringing marshes throughout coastal Virginia, USA. Overall, we found that living shorelines were functionally equivalent to natural marshes in nearly all measured aspects, except for a lag in sediment composition. These data support the prioritization of living shorelines as a coastal adaptation strategy.

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Sediment Exchange Between the Created Saltmarshes of Living Shorelines and Adjacent Submersed Aquatic Vegetation in the Chesapeake Bay

Frontiers in Marine Science ◽

10.3389/fmars.2021.727080 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 ◽

Author(s):

Iacopo Vona ◽

Cindy M. Palinkas ◽

William Nardin

Keyword(s):

Chesapeake Bay ◽

Extreme Events ◽

Aquatic Vegetation ◽

Natural Habitat ◽

Wave Climate ◽

Coastal Protection ◽

Submersed Aquatic Vegetation ◽

Shoreline Stabilization ◽

Living Shorelines ◽

Sediment Balance

Rising sea levels and the increased frequency of extreme events put coastal communities at serious risk. In response, shoreline armoring for stabilization has been widespread. However, this solution does not take the ecological aspects of the coasts into account. The “living shoreline” technique includes coastal ecology by incorporating natural habitat features, such as saltmarshes, into shoreline stabilization. However, the impacts of living shorelines on adjacent benthic communities, such as submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV), are not yet clear. In particular, while both marshes and SAV trap the sediment necessary for their resilience to environmental change, the synergies between the communities are not well-understood. To help quantify the ecological and protective (shoreline stabilization) aspects of living shorelines, we presented modeling results using the Delft3D-SWAN system on sediment transport between the created saltmarshes of the living shorelines and adjacent SAV in a subestuary of Chesapeake Bay. We used a double numerical approach to primarily validate deposition measurements made in the field and to further quantify the sediment balance between the two vegetation communities using an idealized model. This model used the same numerical domain with different wave heights, periods, and basin slopes and includes the presence of rip-rap, which is often used together with marsh plantings in living shorelines, to look at the influences of artificial structures on the sediment exchange between the plant communities. The results of this study indicated lower shear stress, lower erosion rates, and higher deposition rates within the SAV bed compared with the scenario with the marsh only, which helped stabilize bottom sediments by making the sediment balance positive in case of moderate wave climate (deposition within the two vegetations higher than the sediment loss). The presence of rip-rap resulted in a positive sediment balance, especially in the case of extreme events, where sediment balance was magnified. Overall, this study concluded that SAV helps stabilize bed level and shoreline, and rip-rap works better with extreme conditions, demonstrating how the right combination of natural and built solutions can work well in terms of ecology and coastal protection.

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Living Shorelines Support Nearshore Benthic Communities in Upper and Lower Chesapeake Bay

Estuaries and Coasts ◽

10.1007/s12237-017-0361-8 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 41 (S1) ◽

pp. 197-206 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Theresa M. Davenport ◽

Rochelle D. Seitz ◽

Kathleen E. Knick ◽

Nina Jackson

Keyword(s):

Chesapeake Bay ◽

Benthic Communities ◽

Management Decision ◽

Marsh Vegetation ◽

Living Shorelines ◽

Shoreline Protection ◽

Management Decision Making ◽

Density And Biomass ◽

Increasing Trends

Abstract Human population growth and sea-level rise are increasing the demand for protection of coastal property against shoreline erosion. Living shorelines are designed to provide shoreline protection and are constructed or reinforced using natural elements. While living shorelines are gaining popularity with homeowners, their ability to provide ecological services (e.g., habitat provision and trophic transfer) is not well understood, and information is needed to improve coastal and resource management decision-making. We examined benthic community responses to living shorelines in two case-study subestuaries of Chesapeake Bay using a before-after control-impact study design. At Windy Hill, a bulkhead was removed and replaced by three tombolos, sand fill, and native marsh vegetation. At Lynnhaven, 25 m of eroding marsh shoreline was stabilized with coir logs, sand fill, and native marsh vegetation. Communities of large (> 3 mm) infauna adjacent to living shorelines at both locations tended to increase in biomass by the end of the study period. Community compositions changed significantly following living shoreline construction at Windy Hill, reflecting a trend toward higher density and biomass of large bivalves at living shorelines compared to pre-construction. Increasing trends in density and biomass of clams and simultaneously decreasing density and decreasing trends in biomass of polychaetes suggest a transition toward stable infaunal communities at living shorelines over time, though longer-term studies are warranted.

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Between ‘Savage Man’ and ‘Most Faithful Englishman’ Manteo and the Early Anglo-Indian Exchange, 1584–1590

Itinerario ◽

10.1017/s0165115300044545 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 24 (2) ◽

pp. 146-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Michael Leroy Oberg

Keyword(s):

North Carolina ◽

Chesapeake Bay ◽

One Year ◽

Anglo Indian

In August of 1587 Manteo, an Indian from Croatoan Island, joined a group of English settlers in an attack on the native village of Dasemunkepeuc, located on the coast of present-day North Carolina. These colonists, amongst whom Manteo lived, had landed on Roanoke Island less than a month before, dumped there by a pilot more interested in hunting Spanish prize ships than in carrying colonists to their intended place of settlement along the Chesapeake Bay. The colonists had hoped to re-establish peaceful relations with area natives, and for that reason they relied upon Manteo to act as an interpreter, broker, and intercultural diplomat. The legacy of Anglo-Indian bitterness remaining from Ralph Lane's military settlement, however, which had hastily abandoned the island one year before, was too great for Manteo to overcome. The settlers found themselves that summer in the midst of hostile Indians.

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