Not a question but just to share: RSPB sustainable shores project: https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/conservation/projects/sustainable-shores/ of relevance to saltmarsh
@Martin (Saltmarshes) - Could you use rates of sediment supply and sea-level rise etc. to produce 3D numerical forward models to simulate the rate and spatial distribution of saltmarsh backstepping?
Yes, exactly, you can do that. It's really interesting idea and we've been playing a bit with it. Mainly, marshes responde to a certain elevation level and if sediment supply gets the substrate to that elevation, then marsh plants will colonise it (unless hydrological forcing is too great, of course).
Yes, exactly, you can do that. It's really interesting idea and we've been playing a bit with it. Mainly, marshes responde to a certain elevation level and if sediment supply gets the substrate to that elevation, then marsh plants will colonise it (unless hydrological forcing is too great, of course).
@Martin, how much of the change in salt marsh size is linked to poor land management upstream, and increased erosion of terrestrial soils? If we factor in improved catchment management what might we expect to happen in salt marsh?
That is a good quutestion, which is a bit more difficult to answer for Wales, and the UK, as we have only looked at this indirectly. The East coast of the USA, this is an extremely relevant question (marshes tehre wouldn't be as big as they are, had it not been for catchment disturbance of land which injected sediments into the coast, for marshes to grow on). We've looked at sediment load in rivers and not found any strong correlation of marsh area changes with that across the UK. It will be most important in the south-east. Here in Wales, and much of the west coast, we have inwelling of post-glacial sediment supplies, and my feelign is taht present day changes of marshes are less driven by terrestrial runoff.
Martin - can you clarify your comment about cattle and redshank please. I assume that is the physical impact during the breeding season not impact on habitat so it is not cattle per se but timing of cattle being present/
Neil. Nice question. There are at least two ways in which grazing can affect redshank breeding success. First, there is the direct nest trampling. Elwyn Sharp's work has shown that even very light livestock densities causes nest mortality, and in a futher paper he shows that is because livestock movement concentrates in the same areas as nest preferences for redshank (cattle also prefer the type of vegetation that redshank like to nest close to). In addition, grazing opens up the landscape, so there is a very strong increase in nest predation. Basically, grazing, even at low levels, open up the access to predators. You should check Elwyn Sharp's papers (in reference list at the end of my Powerpoint - if you get stuck, email me from my Bangor University address).
Hi Clare. That is a really nice question which is not an easy one to answer, so i'll give a relatively superficial answer to it. I think we should be looking for easy wins - Perhaps smaller scale managed realignment opportunities, that don't require large budgets. I'm all for an opportunistic approach, which is perhaps less easy to build into the marine plan. I think we need to also think on the very large scales about what we want. Of course, that's what planning is all about, but what i mean is: which marshes and which regions are important for delivering which ..elements (services and other) that we need and want to deliver. Take SMPs as an exemplar: for some issues and services it's sensible to think about a network of sites, for others it will only be certain key sites that we want; do we want many small ones, or a few large ones? The answer to that depends very much on the services in question, right. AND, we need to understand what leads to the delivery of different services. For instance, take recreational use of marshes; during lockdown we've seen how some sites (e.g., Snowdon) become hotspots where people want to go. We need to understand more about how the spatial distribution of sites relate to peple's interaction with them, and what drives that choice that people make.
Oh, and i should have mentioned the word 'connetivity' there: how marshes link up and how marhes link up to other habitats, for wildlife habitat, flood protetion, the provisioning of recreational space, the works.
I work as a groups support offcer for Llais y Goedwig - community woodlands in Wales - perhaps other projects might mention the part coastal woodland may play? I am just here in case!..
QUESTION SUBMITTED LIVE:
Emily Williams:
Not a question but just to share: RSPB sustainable shores project: https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/conservation/projects/sustainable-shores/ of relevance to saltmarsh
Thanks for that Emily. Yes, i had heard about that sustainable shores project. I like it.
QUESTION SUBMITTED LIVE:
David Golds:
@Martin (Saltmarshes) - Could you use rates of sediment supply and sea-level rise etc. to produce 3D numerical forward models to simulate the rate and spatial distribution of saltmarsh backstepping?
Yes, exactly, you can do that. It's really interesting idea and we've been playing a bit with it. Mainly, marshes responde to a certain elevation level and if sediment supply gets the substrate to that elevation, then marsh plants will colonise it (unless hydrological forcing is too great, of course).
Yes, exactly, you can do that. It's really interesting idea and we've been playing a bit with it. Mainly, marshes responde to a certain elevation level and if sediment supply gets the substrate to that elevation, then marsh plants will colonise it (unless hydrological forcing is too great, of course).
QUESTION SUBMITTED LIVE:
Dan Ward:
@Martin, how much of the change in salt marsh size is linked to poor land management upstream, and increased erosion of terrestrial soils? If we factor in improved catchment management what might we expect to happen in salt marsh?
That is a good quutestion, which is a bit more difficult to answer for Wales, and the UK, as we have only looked at this indirectly. The East coast of the USA, this is an extremely relevant question (marshes tehre wouldn't be as big as they are, had it not been for catchment disturbance of land which injected sediments into the coast, for marshes to grow on). We've looked at sediment load in rivers and not found any strong correlation of marsh area changes with that across the UK. It will be most important in the south-east. Here in Wales, and much of the west coast, we have inwelling of post-glacial sediment supplies, and my feelign is taht present day changes of marshes are less driven by terrestrial runoff.
QUESTION SUBMITTED LIVE:
Neil Lambert:
Martin - can you clarify your comment about cattle and redshank please. I assume that is the physical impact during the breeding season not impact on habitat so it is not cattle per se but timing of cattle being present/
Neil. Nice question. There are at least two ways in which grazing can affect redshank breeding success. First, there is the direct nest trampling. Elwyn Sharp's work has shown that even very light livestock densities causes nest mortality, and in a futher paper he shows that is because livestock movement concentrates in the same areas as nest preferences for redshank (cattle also prefer the type of vegetation that redshank like to nest close to). In addition, grazing opens up the landscape, so there is a very strong increase in nest predation. Basically, grazing, even at low levels, open up the access to predators. You should check Elwyn Sharp's papers (in reference list at the end of my Powerpoint - if you get stuck, email me from my Bangor University address).
QUESTION SUBMITTED LIVE:
Clare Trotman:
Really interesting presentation Martin. What do you think the marine plan could do more of to support managed realignment/saltmarsh expansion?
Hi Clare. That is a really nice question which is not an easy one to answer, so i'll give a relatively superficial answer to it. I think we should be looking for easy wins - Perhaps smaller scale managed realignment opportunities, that don't require large budgets. I'm all for an opportunistic approach, which is perhaps less easy to build into the marine plan. I think we need to also think on the very large scales about what we want. Of course, that's what planning is all about, but what i mean is: which marshes and which regions are important for delivering which ..elements (services and other) that we need and want to deliver. Take SMPs as an exemplar: for some issues and services it's sensible to think about a network of sites, for others it will only be certain key sites that we want; do we want many small ones, or a few large ones? The answer to that depends very much on the services in question, right. AND, we need to understand what leads to the delivery of different services. For instance, take recreational use of marshes; during lockdown we've seen how some sites (e.g., Snowdon) become hotspots where people want to go. We need to understand more about how the spatial distribution of sites relate to peple's interaction with them, and what drives that choice that people make.
Oh, and i should have mentioned the word 'connetivity' there: how marshes link up and how marhes link up to other habitats, for wildlife habitat, flood protetion, the provisioning of recreational space, the works.
QUESTION SUBMITTED LIVE:
Cara Wilson, Llais y Goedwig , South West:
thank you all, very interesting presentations.
I work as a groups support offcer for Llais y Goedwig - community woodlands in Wales - perhaps other projects might mention the part coastal woodland may play? I am just here in case!..