Erosion and the impact it has on Marine Plants

Zach Nixon

Fall 2017

Marine Botany
 The health of a dune and a salt marsh is important to the land further inshore. The dunes provide
protection from the waves and the tides ( Liu 2014). As well as the salt marsh provides protection from
the tides and the raise in water level (Van Loon-Steensma 2014). Erosion can put the health of dunes and
salt marshes at risk by changing the structure of the ecosystem. Erosion is the process of sediment
weathering away due to wind, tides and human impact over time (McKenna 2016). Erosion can be a
major issue to the ecosystem because it can change the shape and structure of the area around it. In order
for the organisms to survive in conditions where erosion is noticeable they must adapt. Many animals are
able to move away from the eroded area but plants cannot. Plants are not able to move away from the
eroding soil so they must adapt in order to survive. Some conditions or factors that will change due to
erosion will be the elevation, nutrient availability and light availability (Slaymaker 2015). Other factors
also include competition and predation. The purpose of this paper is to explain the effects that erosion has
on marine plants in ecosystems like dunes and salt marshes.

Elevation is the major factor that is affected by erosion. As time goes on, the tides, wind and
other weather conditions cause the sediment to shift and break apart. As the elevation of the sediment
changes the water level will increase causing areas of the land that was not covered by water to be
suddenly covered by water. This will cause a change in other conditions such as nutrients. Plants must
adapt to these conditions so that they can cope with the change in water level. Some changes that the
plant must endure are that they must create a greater root structure. The roots are used to anchor the plant
to the sediment so that they are not uprooted due to the tides. Also because the water level will be higher
the plant will be under water which means that the roots must be used to collect nutrients. Another
adaptation the plant must go through is that it must be more flexible to move with the water. The
flexibility of a plant is measured by its lignification (Slaymaker 2015). The more lignified the plant it, the
stiffer it is. When a plant is in an ecosystem where the tides and current is a factor the plant must be less
lignified so it can move with the current.

As you move up the in elevation of a dune or a salt marsh you notice that the availability nutrients
are different. Lower down the dune or salt marsh where water is most available, the plant relies on its
roots to collect the nutrients (Slaymaker 2015). As you move up the ecosystem where water becomes less
available, the plant relies on its leaves to collect nutrients. The plant adaptation to the change in nutrients
is similar to the adaptions to the plant if there was a change in elevation. The below ground biomass
where the roots are located must be greater than the above ground in order to collect nutrients (Slaymaker
2015). If erosion causes the plant to be where there is no water available then they must increase their
surface area in their leaves. Also in areas where water is less available, the leaves of the plant must have a
waxy texture so that they do not dry out due to the sun.
 Competition and predation are also factors that take place in a dune and a salt marsh. When
erosion happens it can affect the predators and the competition of the plants. Some examples are that if a
plant is located where there is no tidal influence and the because of erosion the plant is not under water.
The predators that originally attacked the plant can no longer eat the plant because of the water level
(Slaymaker 2015). However now that the plant is under water there can now be marine predators that can
now eat the plant. So now the plant must adapt from its original predator to its new predator. That
adaption can be chemical, structural or temporal (Liu 2014). A structural change can be that the plant can
form a tough skin or it can grow thorns that will make it difficult for the predator to eat it. A chemical
defense can be when the plant can release an odor that will repel the predator or it can have a bad taste
when eaten. A temporal defense is when the plant uses the time of the season or a time of the day to be
protected. Such as a plant can bloom in the spring because a predator is present during the winter.

The plants that are located at dunes and salt marshes have different adaptions depending on where
they are located. This is called zonation. Zonation is when the ecosystem is separated into different
sections depending on the factors that are present (Van Loon-Steensma 2014). One way that people can
monitor zonation in salt marshes is my taking aerial pictures of the marsh. By taking aerial pictures you
can see where each zone is located. In a paper written by Van Loon-Steensma and Slim, they took aerial
pictures to measure the zonation of a salt marsh in Wadden Island (Van Loon-Steensma 2014). With their
pictures they were able to see the zonation patterns as well as the impact that erosion had on the island.
The results they found were that there was a different in species composition between the plants that were
grazed and ungrazed (Van Loon-Steensma 2014). The marsh was separated by a gully so that some
sections of the plants will be grazed on my sheep and other parts of the marsh where there will be no
grazing. They found that in the areas where grazing was taking place there was little growth meaning that
the range of the hight of the plant was between 5-15cm which was mainly consisted of Salicornia
europaea and Spartina anglica (Van Loon-Steensma 2014). They also noticed that there are more bare
spots found in areas where grazing was allowed. In areas where grazing was not allowed in the salt
marsh, the plants growth ranged from 15-25cm (Van Loon-Steensma 2014). The plants that were found
there was A. portulacoides and with S. anglica. There was also no dead patches found in the areas where
grazing was not allowed. In total they found 11 different plant species in which 2 were macro-algae at 5
different salt marshes. This is a good example on how erosion will change the ecosystem. The gully that
is separating the grazed area and the ungrazed area will eventually erodes away which will make it easy
for the sheep to cross over. If the sheep are able to cross the gully then they will graze the plants are
located over the gully. That will cause the plants to get eaten and cause bare spots in the salt marsh. The
bare spots can open up for different species or invasive species to come in and grow.
 An invasive species is when a species that is not known to the ecosystem comes in and grows in
the ecosystem. A way an invasive species can come in is if there are any bare spots where the plant can
grow. In the situation at Wadden Island, the bare spots where the sheep graze are a good opportunity for
an invasive species to grow. An example of an invasive species that is affecting areas of New Zealand is
Ammophila arenaria (Konlechner 2013). This plant is able to come in and invade areas where it is not
known is because it has adaptations which allows it to grow in different environments. Some of those
adaptations are that they have rhizomes located throughout their entire shoot (Konlechner 2013). This
allows the plant to have a greater ability to store nutrients. The plant is also able to survive in conditions
where the plant will be almost entirely buried. The only time the plant would not survive is when it was
100% buried (Konlechner 2013). Salt spray is when the wind takes the ocean water and spreads it over
the plants. Salt spraying can cause the plant to die due to the salinity. In Ammophila arenaria, there was
no effect due to salt spraying (Konlechner 2013). In New Jersey an invasive plant that affects the dune
habitat is the Corex Kobomugi. It is very hard to get rid of Corex Kobomugi because it can grow virtually
anywhere and has a very high growth rate. Just like the Ammophila arenaria in New Zealand, the Corex
Kobomugi can survive in harsh environments and can grow where there are bare spots in the sediment. If
the invasive species remains unchecked then the plant can take over the whole dune which is not healthy
for the dune.

An invasive species is not the only thing a dune has to deal with when it comes to the health of
the dune. Other factors that include storms, weather and human impact all play a role in the health of a
dune. With the increase in tourism along the coast line, the amount of human impact on the beaches is
causing the sand to shift and erode (Martinez 2016). The dune itself puts in precautions when it comes to
storms. The dune has a buffer zone that allows the dune to be protected when sea level rises. However
with an increase in sea level and with storms becoming more intense the buffer zone is becoming less and
less useful (Martinez 2016). In one experiment a group of scientist wanted to see if storm surges would
affect the growth of Ipomoea pes-caprae more specifically the seedlings that it produced. They choose
Ipomoea because it is found where the tide washes up and it is useful for shoreline protection (Martinez
2016). They also did a study to see how tourism will affect the plant. The results from the seedlings study
is that the seeds were able to thrive under buried conditions and they had a long term success rate when it
came to germination (Martinez 2016). They visited three sites to study the effects of tourism on a beach.
The three sites varied in how much human involvement there was during a year span. The results were
that the site with least human activity had less of an impact and the site with the most human activity had
the most impact. Also the months were tourism is high which is the summer time had the most impact on
the marine plant (Martinez 2016). Ipomoea is a great plant for the dune because it has a large below
ground biomass which means that it is able to hold the sediment together. Since it is able to hold the
sediment together it is able to prevent erosion. This study shows that wave action does not affect the
growth of the plant because the plant is able to burry its seeds. However human impact does have an
effect on the growth of the plant. Human activity decreases the surface area of the beach and the survival
rate of the plant. Overall humans have a higher negative impact on beaches then storms.

Erosion can cause sediment to either be washed away or pile up. Wind erosion is when the wind
moves the sand of a beach causing the sediment to shift. Sand burial is when the wind blows the sediment
over to one side making a pile of sand (Liu 2014). Sand burial affects the plants ability to get light and
collect nutrients. It also affects other factors such as temperature and herbivory. It also influences the
reproduction of plants because it affects the ability of the seeds to be transported (Lie 2014). Artemisia
wudanica is a pioneer species plant that is found in china. A pioneer species is a plant that has a high
reproduction rate and can survive in different harsh environments (Liu 2014). This plant is useful in
studying wind erosion and sand burial because it reacts differently to the change in environment. In wind
erosion A. wudanica bends over and then accumulates blown sand among its fallen stems, which forms a
sand-protecting barrier (Liu 2014). The shift in sand will have the roots grow and explore different areas
of the dune. In an experiment where they tested the affects that sand burial and erosion have on A.
wudanica they discovered that there were positive, negative and neutral responses to sand burial (Liu
2014). When the plant was buried it did not have any reaction which would cause it to be neutral. When
there is erosion or some burial the plant has a positive response. The plant had a negative response to
erosion alone. Another observation is that the adventitious roots of the plants seeds took place when the
shoots of the plant was partially or completely buried (Liu 2014).

The plant reacted to different situations when exposed to different types of erosion. When the
plant was exposed to burial treatment which is when the plant is buried the plant seemed to be unaffected.
The same result could have been said for when the plant is exposed to erosion. The change is when the
plant is exposed to erosion and subsequent burial (Liu 2014). When exposed to erosion the plant falls
over due to lack of support and the plant is the buried by the sand brought over by the wind (Liu 2014).
As a result of the plant being buried the adventitious roots expanding new ramets are produced in the
plant but only when the plant is partially or completely buried. A ramet is formed from vegetative buds
found in the buried stems of the plant (Liu 2014). As the ramet grows it becomes more independent as it
grows more individuals for the population. This is one of many examples on how the plant adapts to the
changes in its environment due to erosion.

There have been plenty of efforts put in place to try to stop erosion. Erosion can cost millions of
dollars in revenue for a community to try to stop it (McKenna 2016). In New Jersey the most recent event
that caused the most erosion in a short amount of time was Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy was a
storm that went up the New Jersey coast and caused the beaches to erode away and destroyed many of the
plant life and human structures build along the shore. Due to the loss of sand from Sandy there was
28,281,741 cubic yards of sand that were brought into New Jersey to restore the beaches (McKenna
2016). There are many different methods that are used to try to prevent erosion so that something like
Sandy does not destroy the beach community again. One example of a method of erosion prevention is a
jetty. A jetty is when there are a pile of large rocks that stick out of the shoreline (McKenna 2016). The
pile of rocks will cause the waves to break a part before it hits the shore. By having the waves break apart
the velocity of the wave slows down which makes the impact less intense. Another method is breakwater
tubes. Breakwater tubes are giant tubes that are placed in front of shore break that are used to stop the
impact of the waves from hitting the shore (McKenna 2016). A third method used for erosion control is
called erosion control mats. Erosion control mats are placed under the sand and it acts as a place holder
for the sediment. This is important because it prevents the sand from eroding away from the tides. The
only natural way to prevent erosion is with the vegetation. By having natural dune plants the sand will not
erode and it will not be as costly. The marine plants provide a support system with their roots. The roots
of the marine plants can reach deep down into the sediment to collect nutrients (McKenna 2016). In order
to have a healthy dune you must have a diverse dune plant community. The more diverse the community
is the less likely the community will be killed off by a disease. Also the healthier the dune community is
the less money you would have to pay long term (McKenna 2016).

New Jersey lost a lot of marine plants and sediment after Hurricane Sandy. In Monmouth, Cape
May, Atlantic and Ocean County the total number of sediment lost in volume was 14,025,000 (McKenna
2016). Sandy had more of an impact on the southern parts of New Jersey than compared to northern parts
of New Jersey. Some parts of south Jersey lost as much as 17 miles of sediment (McKenna 2016). In
north Jersey there was a maximum loss of sediment was 6 miles. The reason for a greater loss of sediment
in south Jersey could be because the storm was more intense in the southern parts of New Jersey and then
die off as it reached the northern parts of Jersey. Naturally the areas where there has more loss of
sediment needed to have more sediment brought in to replace it (McKenna 2016).

Erosion is a serious thing that effects the environment around it. Many communities are altered
by erosion and many beach towns have to spend a lot of resources in order to prevent it. Many organisms
are able to retreat from erosion but marine plants cannot retreat. The plants have to adapt to the erosion in
order to survive. Plants are also important in erosion prevention in that the roots help keep the sediment
together.
 Literature Review
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Ammophila arenaria survival on new zealand beaches. Journal of Coastal Conservation.
17(3):463-72

Liu B, Liu Z, Lu X, Maestre F, Wang L. 2014. Sand burial compensates for the negative effects of
erosion on the dune-building shrub Artemisia wudanica. Springer Link. 374(1-2): 263-273.

Martinez, M., Silva, R., Mendoza, E., Odériz, I., & Pérez-Maqueo, O. 2016. Coastal Dunes and Plants:
An Ecosystem-Based Alternative to Reduce Dune Face Erosion. Journal of Coastal Conservation.
1: 303-307.

McKenna KK, Farrell SC, Gebert JA. 2016. Hurricane sandy: Beach-dune recovery at new jersey beach
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Slaymaker D, Peek M, Wresilo J, Zeltner D, Saleh Y. 2015. Genetic Structure of Native and Restored
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Coast. JSTOR. 31(6): 1334-1343.

van Loon-Steensma, J.M., Slim, P.A., Decuyper, M. et al. 2014. Salt-marsh erosion and restoration in
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