ASSESSING THE DYNAMIC RESILIENCE OF NEWLY ESTABLISHED SALT MARSHES TO WAVE-INDUCED STRESS OVER TIME

Restoration of coastal salt marshes has become progressively more common as the ecosystem services provided by these systems, including flood protection and shoreline stabilization, have been acknowledged. Recent examples in Canada include a marsh restoration in Boundary Bay (British Columbia) and a managed realignment at Belcher Street (Nova Scotia) (van Proosdij et al., 2023). To date, most laboratory-based live vegetation experiments have used transplanted natural marshes (Möller et al., 2006; Maza et al., 2022), which are representative of established marsh conditions. However, seasonal fluctuations in biomass and the reduced density of newly established (constructed) marshes compared to their natural counterparts (Tempest et al., 2015) can potentially result in significant variability in performance. There is a pressing need to understand the performance of newly established marshes to better characterize short- term benefits and ensure the long-term viability of these restoration efforts.