Published

Credit: Gordan Campbell at Altitude Gallery

Credit: Gordan Campbell at Altitude Gallery

Historically, this undeveloped landscape has been a shifting mosaic; a new 30-year retrospective now shows directional change and accelerating ecosystem loss. Barrier island upland area has declined by a third, and island marsh loss due to storm overwash has increased, especially in the last decade. Feedbacks between vegetation and sediment transport determine barrier island dune shape, and this affects island migration and the long term resilience of islands to storms.

Learn more

  1. McGlathery, KJ et al. 2013. Nonlinear dynamics and alternative stable states in shallow coastal systems. Oceanography. doi: 10.5670/oceanog.2013.66
  2. Zinnert, JC et al. 2019. Connectivity in coastal systems: barrier island vegetation influences upland migration in a changing climate. Global Change Biology. doi: 10.1111/gcb.14635
  3. Durán Vinent, O and LJ Moore. 2015. Barrier island bistability induced by biophysical interactions. Nature Climate Change. doi: 10.1038/nclimate2474

Contact

Karen McGlathery
kjm4k@virginia.edu

Posted:  July 10, 2020