Projects

Implications of nature-based SALTISolutions for estuarine ecosystem engineering

This subproject investigates the effects of nature-based SALTISolutions on estuarine services (biodiversity, habitat provision and safety from flooding via nature-based flood protection) other than their primary goal (i.e. salt intrusion mitigation). We focus on the occurrence and distribution of ecosystem engineering species i.e., organisms that modify the abiotic environment via their physical structures or activity and thereby create, modify, and maintain habitats (Jones et al. 1994); in particular we focus on epibenthic (aboveground) ecosystem engineers, including mussels/oysters and vegetation. Considering the complex interplay between such ecosystem engineering species, hydrodynamics, morphodynamics and nature-based SALTISolutions, especially at longer timescales of years to decades, the prediction of these effects will be challenging. Specific research questions are:

• What is the expected change in occurrence and distribution of ecosystem engineering species in selected estuaries for the coming decades, as a consequence of climate change (i.e. through sea level rise, temperature increase and salt intrusion), and how (much) will these ecosystem engineering species affect the hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics on an estuarine scale?
• Given the nature-based SALTISolutions developed in WP7.1, how can ecosystem engineering species serve to enhance the long-term benefits of these nature-based SALTISolutions for estuarine services?
• How does the accumulation of the effect of small-scale nature-based SALTISolutions contribute to estuary-scale natural estuarine services?