COASTALWETLANDS

AN INTEGRATED ECOSYSTEMAPPROACH

SECOND EDITIONEdited by

GERARDO M.E. PERILLOERIC WOLANSKI

DONALD R. CAHOON

CHARLES S. HOPKINSON

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Dedication

The editors wish to dedicate the present book to the mem-ory of Dr. Mark M. Brinson, our friend, colleague, andmember of the editorial team of the first edition of CoastalWetlands: An integrated Ecosystem Approach.

Gerardo M.E. Perillo, Eric Wolanski, Donald R.Cahoon, and Charles S. Hopkinson

Dr. Mark M. Brinson retired in September 2010 withthe title of Distinguished Research Professor, after morethan 35 years at East Carolina University. We were lookingforward to several more active years of research and pro-fessional service when he unexpectedly passed away a fewmonths later, on January 3, 2011. In words of his dear friendand colleague, Dr. Robert Christian, we lost a thoughtful,hardworking, and creative Ecosystem Naturalist that day.

Mark devoted his research to understanding howwetlands function, unraveling the intricate relationshipsamong the physical, chemical, and biological componentsof wetland ecosystems. His unique perspective made sub-stantial contributions not only to wetland science but alsoto the environmental management of wetlands. Mark’swork had a significant impact on the hydrogeomorphicclassification of wetlands, central to the functional assess-ment of wetlands and mitigation procedures based onfunctional loss. This functional approach along with the useof reference states that one of his most significant contri-butions greatly changed mitigation policies and targets forrestoration strategies.

Throughout his career, Mark taught numerous cour-ses and workshops on wetland ecology within the United

States and abroad. He has edited, authored, and coauthored many publications on wetlandecology and served as a technical consultant to the US Environmental Protection Agency, USFish and Wildlife Service, and the Smithsonian Institution. He was also President of theSociety of Wetland Scientists and served on its Board of Directors for several years. Inaddition, Mark has received many honors and awards, including the Thomas Harriot Collegeof Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, a Na-tional Wetlands Award for Science Research cosponsored by the Environmental Law Insti-tute and the Environmental Protection Agency, and Fellowship of the Society of WetlandScientists.

On a more personal note, I met Mark in 2003, when I was a graduate student at Uni-versidad de Buenos Aires. By that time he was using a Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Award

v

to aid in the development of a national wetland inventory in Argentina. I was a clumsy andunfocused student who knew little about Mark then, but working with him gave me theopportunity of a lifetime to become a wetland ecologist. Mark was one of the most respectfulpeople I ever knew, but I could not describe Mark better than himself. As he said in hisretirement essay, he did not like “being shrouded by the transparent tapestry of ego.” Andthat was Dr. Mark Brinson, the Senior Scientist and Distinguished Professor who did not missa single field trip to my marsh sites. He wrote my field notes, helped me out with the peatsampler, and cooked dinner.

In his retirement speech he also said “Having fun is being hardwired to yourprofession e half of the time you don’t realize how much fun it is.” From all the picturesthat came to my mind since I started to write this note, I choose to share this one: Mark andhis big smile standing at the marsh, playing at being my field assistant, and having fun.

Dr. Paula G Pratolongo

DEDICATIONvi

List of Contributors

Kenneth F. Abraham Trent University, Peter-borough, ON, Canada

Paul Adam School of Biological Earth andEnvironmental Science, UNSW, Sydney, NSW,Australia

S. Ahmerkamp Max Planck Institute for MarineMicrobiology, Bremen, Germany

Rebecca J. Aspden Scottish Oceans Institute,School of Biology, University of St Andrews,Fife, Scotland

Andrew H. Baldwin Department of Environ-mental Science and Technology, University ofMaryland, College Park, MD, United States

Donald M. Baltz Department of Oceanographyand Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State Univer-sity, Baton Rouge, LA, United States

Edward B. Barbier Department of Economics,Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo-rado, United States

Aat Barendregt Utrecht University, Utrecht, TheNetherlands

Kevin S. Black Partrac, Glasgow, Scotland

Laurence A. Boorman L A B Coastal, Cam-bridgeshire, United Kingdom

Mark M. Brinsony

Stephen W. Broome Department of Crop andSoil Sciences, North Carolina State University,Raleigh, NC, United States

Benjamin M. Brown Charles Darwin Univer-sity, Research Institute for Environment andLivelihoods (RIEL), Darwin, NT, Australia

Michael R. Burchell Department of Biologicaland Agricultural Engineering, North CarolinaState University, Raleigh, NC, United States

Donald R. Cahoon United States GeologicalSurvey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center,Laurel, MD, United States

L. Carniello Department of Civil, Environmentaland Architectural Engineering, University ofPadua, Padova, Italy

Edward Castañeda-Moya Southeast Environ-mental Research Center, Florida InternationalUniversity, Miami, FL, United States

Elizabeth Christie Cambridge Coastal ResearchUnit, Department of Geography, University ofCambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

P.L.M. Cook Water Studies Centre, MonashUniversity, Clayton, VIC, Australia

Christopher B. Craft School of Public andEnvironmental Affairs, Indiana University,Bloomington, IN, United States

Carolyn A. Currin NOAA, National Centers forCoastal Ocean Science, Beaufort Lab, Beaufort,NC, United States

Andrea D’Alpaos Department of Geosciences,University of Padova, PD, Italy

L. D’Alpaos Department of Civil, Environmentaland Architectural Engineering, University ofPadua, Padova, Italy

Stephen Davis Everglades Foundation, PalmettoBay, FL, United States

Dirk de Beer Max Planck Institute for MarineMicrobiology, Bremen, Germany

A. Defina Department of Civil, Environmentaland Architectural Engineering, University ofPadua, Padova, Italy

Joanna C. Ellison Discipline of Geography andSpatial Sciences, School of Technology, Envi-ronments and Design, University of Tasmania,Launceston, TAS, Australia

yDeceased.

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Laura L. Flynn Coastal Resources Group, Inc.,Venice, FL, United States

Irene Fortune Scottish Oceans Institute, Schoolof Biology, University of St Andrews, Fife,Scotland

Jon French Coastal and Estuarine ResearchUnit, UCL Department of Geography, Univer-sity College London, Gower Street, London,United Kingdom

Shu Gao State Key Laboratory for Estuarineand Coastal Research, East China NormalUniversity, Shanghai, China

Christopher Haight New York City Depart-ment of Parks & Recreation, New York, NY,United States

Richard S. Hammerschlag United States Geo-logical Survey, Patuxent Wildlife ResearchCenter, Laurel, MD, United States

Ellen Kracauer Hartig New York City Depart-ment of Parks & Recreation, New York, NY,United States

Marianne Holmer Department of Biology,University of Southern Denmark, Odense,Denmark

Charles S. Hopkinson Department of MarineSciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA,United States

Robert L. Jefferiesy

S.B. Joye Department of Marine Sciences, Uni-versity of Georgia, Athens, GA, United States

Jeffrey J. Kelleway Department of Environ-mental Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney,NSW, Australia

Jason R. Kirby Liverpool John Moores Univer-sity, School of Natural Sciences & Psychology,Liverpool, United Kingdom

Stefano Lanzoni Department of Civil, Environ-mental, and Architectural Engineering, Univer-sity of Padova, PD, Italy

Marit Larson New York City Department ofParks&Recreation,NewYork,NY,UnitedStates

Paul S. Lavery School of Science & Centre forMarine Ecosystems Research, Edith CowanUniversity, Joondalup, WA, Australia; Centrode Estudios Avanzados de Blanes, ConsejoSuperior de Investigaciones Científicas, Blanes,Spain

Nicoletta Leonardi University of Liverpool,School of Environmental Sciences, Departmentof Geography and Planning, Liverpool, UnitedKingdom

Roy R. Lewis III Coastal Resources Group, Inc.,Salt Springs, FL, United States

Catherine Lovelock The School of BiologicalSciences, The University of Queensland, StLucia, QLD, Australia; Global Change Institute,The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD,Australia

Marco Marani Department of Civil, Environ-mental, and Architectural Engineering,University of Padova, PD, Italy

I. Peter Martini School of EnvironmentalSciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON,Canada

Karen L. McKee U.S. Geological Survey, Wet-land and Aquatic Research Center, Lafayette,LA, United States

J. Patrick Megonigal Smithsonian Environ-mental Research Center, Edgewater, MD,United States

Stephen Midway Department of Oceanographyand Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State Univer-sity, Baton Rouge, LA, United States

Iris Möller Cambridge Coastal Research Unit,Department of Geography, University ofCambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

R.I. Guy Morrison National Wildlife ResearchCentre, Environment and Climate ChangeCanada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Scott C. Neubauer Department of Biology, Vir-ginia Commonwealth University, Richmond,VA, United States

David M. Paterson Scottish Oceans Institute,School of Biology, University of St Andrews,Fife, Scotland

yDeceased.

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORSxiv

Gerardo M.E. Perillo Instituto Argentino deOceanografía (CONICET e UNS), BahíaBlanca, Argentina; Departamento de Geología,Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca,Argentina

Maria Cintia Piccolo Instituto Argentino deOceanografia - Universidad Nacional del Sur,Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Andrew Plater University of Liverpool, Schoolof Environmental Sciences, Department ofGeography and Planning, Liverpool, UnitedKingdom

Paula Pratolongo Universidad Nacional del Sur,Dto. de Biología Bioquímica y FarmaciaCONICET, Instituto Argentino de Ocean-ografía, Bahía Blanca, Argentina

Andrea Rinaldo Department of Civil, Environ-mental, and Architectural Engineering, Uni-versity of Padova, PD, Italy; Laboratory ofEcohydrology, Ecole Polytechnique FèdèraleLausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

Victor H. Rivera-Monroy Department ofOceanography and Coastal Sciences, Collegeof the Coast and the Environment, LouisianaState University, Baton Rouge, LA, UnitedStates

Kerrylee Rogers Geoquest, University of Wol-longong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia

Andre S. Rovai Department of Oceanographyand Coastal Sciences, College of the Coastand the Environment, Louisiana StateUniversity, Baton Rouge, LA, United States;Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ocean-ografia, Universidade Federal de SantaCatarina, Florianópolis, Brazil

Neil Saintilan Department of EnvironmentalSciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW,Australia

Charles E. Sasser Department of Oceanographyand Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State Univer-sity, Baton Rouge, LA, United States

C.A. Schutte Louisiana Universities MarineConsortium (LUMCON), Chauvin, LA, UnitedStates

M. Seidel Institute for Chemistry and Biology ofthe Marine Environment (ICBM), University ofOldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany

Liudmila A. Sergienko Department of Botanyand Plant Physiology, Petrozavodsk StateUniversity, Petrozavodsk, Russia

Oscar Serrano School of Science & Centre forMarine Ecosystems Research, Edith CowanUniversity, Joondalup, WA, Australia

Daniel O. Suman Rosenstiel School of Marineand Atmospheric Science, University of Miami,Miami, FL, United States

Rebecca K. Swadek New York City Depart-ment of Parks & Recreation, New York, NY,United States

Craig Tobias University of Connecticut, Groton,CT, United States

Robert R. Twilley Department of Ocean-ography and Coastal Sciences, College of theCoast and the Environment, Louisiana StateUniversity, Baton Rouge, LA, United States

Jenneke M. Visser Institute for Coastal andWater Research, and School of Geosciences,University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette,LA, United States

Dennis F. Whigham Smithsonian EnvironmentalResearch Center, Edgewater, MD, United States

Eric Wolanski TropWATER and College ofScience and Engineering, James Cook Univer-sity, Townsville, QLD, Australia; AustralianInstitute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD,Australia

Colin D. Woodroffe School of Earth and Envi-ronmental Sciences, University of Wollongong,Wollongong, NSW, Australia

C.S. Wu Max Planck Institute for MarineMicrobiology, Bremen, Germany

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS xv

Preface to the First Edition

Why coastal wetlands? What is soimportant about them that a whole book isrequired to try to review and explain theirlarge variety of properties? Of all the coastalhabitats, wetlands are the least depicted inthe tourist brochures because they lack thoseparadisiacal long, white sandy beachesbacked by palm trees or expensive resorthotels close to transparent blue waters. Infact, most coastal wetlands are quite muddyand are more likely to be inhabited bycrabs and worms than by charismatic fish,birds and mammals. Hence, most inhabitantsof our world either have never thought aboutcoastal wetlands or may consider them anuisance, not realizing that their seafooddinner likely had its origin as a detrital foodweb in a salt marsh or mangrove swamp.Bahía Blanca (Argentina) inhabitants area classical example: a city of over 300,000people living within 10 km of a 2300-km2

wetland, the largest of Argentina, but fewerthan 40% have any idea that they are so closeto the sea and a short distance of places thatare globally unique (Perillo and Iribarne,2003, in Chapter 6).

Similarly, there are many other coastlinesdominated by wetlands, yet they are onlyseen as areas to exploit in an unsustainablefashion. For example, mangroves haveserved local communities for generations inmany Asian tropical countries for harvestingwood and fish in contrast to their wholesalereplacement for rice cultivation and shrimpfarming.

Even though management guidelineshave been available for decades, the negative

consequences of uninformed exploitationhave resulted in poor or even total lack ofmanagement criteria by most governmentsat all levels. Even local stakeholders fail toact in their own best interest withoutconsideration of the ecosystem goods andservices that the nearby wetlands provide.

Coastal wetlands best develop alongpassive-margin coasts with low-gradientcoastal plains and wide continental shelves.The combination of low hydraulic energyand gentle slope provides an ideal setting forthe wetland development. Also passivemargins are less prone to receive largeepisodic events like tsunamis. Tsunamis andstorm surges, in particular, are major coastmodifiers, but when they act on low coaststheir effects are more far reaching than theyare on higher relief coasts. For a wetlandto form, there is a need for a particulargeomorphological setting such as an embay-ment or estuary providing a relativelylow-energy environment favoring sedimentsettling, deposition and preservation. How-ever, that is only the beginning of a large andcomplex “life” where many geological (i.e.,sediment supply, geological setting and isos-tasy), physical (i.e., oceanographic, atmo-spheric, fluvial, groundwater processes andsea level changes), chemical (i.e., nutrients,pollutants), biological (i.e., intervening floraand fauna), and anthropic factors play a widespectra of roles. Coastal wetlands are areasthat have combined physical sources andbiological processes to develop structure thatcontinues to take advantage of natural energyinputs.

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This book has been planned to address inan integrated way all these processes andtheir consequences on the characterizationand evolution of coastal wetlands. It aims toprovide an integrated perspective on coastalwetlands as ecosystems for the public, engi-neers, scientists and resources managers. It isonly after acquiring this perspective thatscientists can confidently propose ecohy-drologic solutions for managing these envi-ronments in an ecologically sustainable way.This is but one small step toward encour-aging humanity to look beyond purelytechnological, and often failed, solutions tocomplex environmental problems.

This is done by focusing on the principalcomponents considering the full range ofenvironments from freshwater to subtidaland from polar to tropical systems. The bookhas been divided into seven parts startingfrom a synthesis chapter that integrates thewhole book. Part I covers, in three chapters,the general description of the wetlandsstructured according to broad climatic re-gions and introduces the most importantphysical processes that are common to allcoastal wetlands including some geo-morphologic and modeling principles. Part IIare specific to each particular type ofwetland (tidal flats, marshes and seagrasses,and mangroves). Within each part (Parts IIIto V), there are chapters dealing with theirparticular geomorphology, sedimentology,biology and biogeochemistry. Finally PartsVI and VII provide insight into the restora-tion and management and sustainability andlandscape dynamics.

As editors, our work was greatly facili-tated by the tremendous cooperation andenthusiasm from each of the authors tocomplete this process that began mid 2006.Each author, an authority in his or her spe-cialty, was specifically invited to write a re-view chapter. Therefore, the challenges weremuch larger than in the case of typical

contributed articles. But the reward, we think,is much more beneficial for the student, pro-fessor, or researcher employing this book forhis or her particular interest. Readers will notonly be able to find a specific topic but willfind related information to complement andenhance the understanding of the topic.

We are in debt to the more than 50 re-viewers (most of them are not authors in thebook) who have agreed and providedgraciously and unselfishly their valuabletime. Some took on the responsibility of twochapters, and their efforts are rewarded withimprovements of each contribution. In manycases, reviewers gave us interesting ideasthat helped in the general structure of thebook. A list of the reviewers is provided.

We also thank Elsevier Science and thevariousPublishingEditorswhowere in chargeof our book along the period since we firstproposed our idea to the final result that youare reading now. First of all to Kristien vanLunen who first believed that our proposalwas realizable and then to the importantcontributions and patience of Jennifer Hele,and also to Pauline Riebeek, Linda Versteegand lastly Sara Pratt. Stalin Viswanathan didan excellent job copyediting the whole book.

Gerardo M.E. PerilloEric Wolanski

Donald R. CahoonMark M. Brinson

July, 2008

This document is based on work partiallysupported by the U.S. National ScienceFoundation under Grants No. BSR-8702333-06, DEB-9211772, DEB-9411974, DEB-0080381and DEB-0621014 and to SCOR underGrant No. OCE-0608600. Any opinions,findings, and conclusions or recommenda-tions expressed in this material are those ofthe authors and do not necessarily reflectthe views of the U.S. National ScienceFoundation (NSF).

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITIONxviii

Preface to the Second Edition

As we wrote this preface, we realized thatexactly 10 years have passed since the timewe wrote the original preface for the firstedition. Three and half years ago,Elsevierdwith a surprising mail by CandiceJancodinvited us to look into the possibilityof a second edition. Although initially thethought of getting back into all the effort thatediting a book of these characteristics de-mands seemed an unhealthy adventure, allof us actually jumped right in with the idea.Unfortunately, as we present in the dedica-tory, our good friend Mark Brinson passedaway in the period between both editions.However, Chuck Hopkinson has been braveenough to come on board playing a majorrole in the outcome of the book.

All the comments given in the originalpreface are as true today as they were then.Unfortunately, many management issuesand complex situations that coastal wetlandswere suffering are still present today and,graver, they have become worse. Therefore,they will not be repeated here.

In this sense, to the original structure ofthe book, we added new chapters pointingout specifically new views of coastal wetlandsmanagement and valuation. Nevertheless,each chapter was significantly improved andupdated to reflect on the new advancesachieved by the wetland community in thelast 10 years.

Many of the original lead authors fromthe first edition gladly accepted the challengeto get back to their old notes and redo themfor the new edition. A few could not committhemselves to the task for various reasons. Inthe cases where it was possible, we foundnew adventurers who were willing to takethe “relay baton” and write a completelynew chapter on the subject.

In all cases, we must remember, authorswere asked to make a thorough review on aspecific subject rather than describe theirown personal work. However, we relied onthe outstanding capabilities and worldwiderecognition each of the lead authors broughtto the book, accompanied by no lessercoauthors.

Again, we could not have presented abook of this level of quality without theunselfish input of over 50 reviewers. Theywere essential in providing us with theirexpertise for those chapters in which we maynot be as confident as them. A book is asgood as its authors, and also it is improvedby the quality of its reviewers. We cannotthank enough each and every one of themfor their time and support.

Finally, again we cannot thank enoughthe original invitation of Candice Jancodwho left us not only for another positionwithin Elsevier almost at the beginning ofthe project but also in the very capable

xix

hands, the amenability, and the good humorof Emily Joy Grace Thomson. She helped usthrough all the stepsdeven those initialfailuresdwith quick responses and manytimes going out of her way to look for solu-tions, some almost impossible. We also wantto thank the invaluable contributions byNilesh Shah and Rajesh Manohar for his

capable and professional work in doing thecopyediting of the book.

Gerardo M.E. PerilloEric Wolanski

Donald R. CahoonCharles S. Hopkinson

July 2018

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITIONxx

List of Reviewers

9 anonymous

Iris Anderson

Donald R. Cahoon

John Callaway

Giovanni Coco

Steve Davis

John Day

Luiz Drude de Lacerda

Steven Dundas

Carl Fitz

Duncan Fitzgerald

Shu Gao

John Grant

Charles S. Hopkinson

Chris Kennedy

Mary Kentula

Ken W. Krauss

Megan LaPeyre

Christopher Madden

Marco Marani

Beth Middleton

Kathleen Onorevole

Michael Osland

Morten Pejrup

Steven Pennings

Gerardo M. E. Perillo

Stephen Polasky

Charles Roman

Rochelle Seitz

Tom Spencer

Craig Tobias

Raymond Torres

Reginald Uncles

Bethney Ward

Eric Wolanski

xxi