Virginia Coast Reserve LTER Research Highlights

Research Highlights

Choose a research highlight:

Dynamic Landscapes Bottom Dwellers Marsh Erosion Marshes and Sea Level Rise
Land Cover Distribution Predicting Change Shoreline Change Mobile Mammals Waterbirds
Seagrass Restoration Oyster Restoration Alternative State Dynamics

DYNAMIC COASTAL LANDSCAPES – By tracking long-term shifts in land cover on undeveloped coastal barrier ecosystems, VCR scientists have learned how sea-level rise and storms interact to create a highly dynamic landscape. While the locations of lagoons, marshes, and barrier islands have changed over time, they have not experienced significant net reductions in the area they cover.

Coastal landscapes are among the most vulnerable to changing climate conditions. Periodic, extreme storm events, superimposed over background conditions of gradual sea-level rise, can force dramatic changes in these geographically marginal, unprotected systems.

NASA LANDSAT 7 Thematic Mapper Scene  of Virginia Portion of the Delmarva Peninsula - 1999.

The redistribution of sediment by waves and currents is typically the driving force behind these changes. For instance, storm waves that overwash a barrier island can push sand from the beach and dunes into the backbarrier tidal marsh, effectively rolling the island landward. Waves and currents may erode sediment from one part of a barrier island or marsh and deposit it elsewhere, or wash it away completely, depending on constantly evolving interactions between climate, sea level, sediment supply, and shoreline position. Over time, these processes alter the location, distribution, and areal coverage of coastal ecosystems. Because of the dynamic nature of these landscapes, understanding natural patterns of coastal change is crucial for management and conservation.

The Virginia Coast Reserve (VCR) LTER site is a pristine coastal landscape consisting of barrier islands, marshes, and lagoons fed by mainland watersheds. The VCR is essentially free of human development, providing a unique opportunity for researchers to monitor natural, long-term changes in ecosystem distribution. VCR scientists have found that between 1973 and 2001, while there have been high rates of localized change, there has been very little net change in the total area occupied by major land cover types (e.g., lagoon, marsh, barrier island) at the landscape level. At any given point on the landscape, there is a 43% chance of change (e.g., marsh becoming lagoon, island becoming marsh, etc.), yet on the landscape scale, there has been only a 7% loss in total coverage by marshes, and only a 6% loss by barrier islands. 

Land Cover Change of Hog Island - 1973-2001

These results indicate that under current conditions, ecosystems in this dynamic coastal landscape are remaining relatively stable in terms of aerial extent, even as they are reshuffled in response to sea-level rise and storm events. However, if sea-level rise accelerates or storminess increases past a critical threshold, or if the coastal barrier system becomes developed or engineered, the dynamic stability of ecosystem reshuffling may give way to greater rates of habitat loss. This research highlights the necessity of long-term monitoring for developing comprehensive, landscape-level models of ecosystem change.

–Cat Wolner

 

For further reading:

Oertel, G. F., J. C. Kraft, M. S. Kearney, and H. J. Woo. 1992. A rational theory for barrier-lagoon development. Quaternary Coasts of the United States: Marine and Lacustrine Systems, SEPM Special Publication No. 48. Pp. 77- 87.

Oertel, G. F. and H. J. Woo. 1994. Landscape classification and terminology for marsh in deficit lagoons. Journal of Coastal Research 10: 919-932.

Oertel, G. F., J. H. Porter, and D. L. Richardson. 1996. The effects of hypsometry on lagoon dynamics and ecosystems. Natural Resource Values and Vulnerabilities: Proceedings Second Virginia Eastern Shore Natural Resources Symposium, Flint, R. W. (ed.). Pp. 55-57.

 

Picture:

NASA LANDSAT 7 Thematic Mapper Scene  of Virginia Portion of the Delmarva Peninsula - 1999. High resolution ~14MB

Caption: LANDSAT 7 TM image of the Delmarva Peninsula on the U.S. East Coast, 2009. The Virginia Coast Reserve LTER site includes the barrier islands, marshes, lagoons and mainland watersheds on the Atlantic (right) side of the peninsula.

Credit: NASA.

 

Figure:

Land Cover Change of Hog Island - 1973-2001

Caption: Change in land cover between 1973 and 2001 on Hog Island and surrounding marshes in the Virginia Coast Reserve LTER site. While barrier islands (uplands), marshes, and lagoons (water) have been redistributed within the coastal landscape, these land cover types have experienced little net change in areal coverage over time. See http://www.vcrlter.virginia.edu/~jhp7e/change_analysis/VCRPrelimChange.pdf for more details.

Source: Modified from Porter, J. H. and M. Brinson. 2006. Results of a Preliminary Change Analysis for the VCR/LTER. VCR LTER website. Available: http://www.vcrlter.virginia.edu/~jhp7e/change_analysis/VCRPrelimChange.pdf.

 

 

For further information:

Dr. John Porter (jporter@lternet.edu)

 

Choose a research highlight:

Dynamic Landscapes Bottom Dwellers Marsh Erosion Marshes and Sea Level Rise
Land Cover Distribution Predicting Change Shoreline Change Mobile Mammals Waterbirds
Seagrass Restoration Oyster Restoration Alternative State Dynamics
Alternative State Dynamics