R/CR-7

Strategic focus area:

Description:

Coastal resiliency against rapid relative sea-level rise and other environmental changes is one of the biggest challenges facing managers globally and especially in Chesapeake Bay (CB). Most efforts to stabilize shorelines now include natural and nature-based features, such as living shorelines (LS), yet questions remain about their performance over time. This study takes advantage of previous studies in mesohaline CB to study LS with a spectrum of ages: 4 LS with ages 2-4 (previous data) and 7-8 years (this study), and 4 nearby LS with ages ~10 (previous data) and ~17-18 years (this study). This dataset is used to evaluate questions of 1) how sediment and plant characteristics change as LS mature; 2) controls on the variability in trajectories for individual LS; and 3) how younger and older LS respond to the same environmental conditions. Field observations of plant and sediment characteristics will be made in years 1 and 2, along with elevation measurements and porewater nutrient analyses. Results will be integrated to help explain differences in apparent trajectories of LS and inform predictions of LS performance.