TY - JOUR
T1 - Maintaining tropical beaches with seagrass and algae
T2 - A promising alternative to engineering solutions
AU - James, Rebecca K.
AU - Silva, Rodolfo
AU - van Tussenbroek, Brigitta I.
AU - Escudero-Castillo, Mireille
AU - Marino-Tapia, Ismael
AU - Dijkstra, Henk A.
AU - Van Westen, Rene M.
AU - Pietrzak, Julie D.
AU - Candy, Adam S.
AU - Katsman, Caroline A.
AU - Van der Boog, Carine G.
AU - Riva, Riccardo E. M.
AU - Slobbe, Cornelis
AU - Klees, Roland
AU - Stapel, Johan
AU - Van der Heide, Tjisse
AU - Van Katwijk, Marieke M.
AU - Herman, Peter M. J.
AU - Bouma, Tjeerd J.
PY - 2019/2
Y1 - 2019/2
N2 - Tropical beaches provide coastal flood protection, income from tourism, and habitat for flagship species. They urgently need protection from erosion, which is being exacerbated by changing climate and coastal development. Traditional coastal engineering solutions are expensive, provide unstable temporary solutions, and often disrupt natural sediment transport. Instead, natural foreshore stabilization and nourishment may provide a sustainable and resilient long-term solution. Field flume and ecosystem process measurements, along with data from the literature, show that sediment stabilization by seagrass in combination with sediment-producing calcifying algae in the foreshore form an effective mechanism for maintaining tropical beaches worldwide. The long-term efficacy of this type of nature-based beach management is shown at a large scale by comparing vegetated and unvegetated coastal profiles. We argue that preserving and restoring vegetated beach foreshore ecosystems offers a viable, self-sustaining alternative to traditional engineering solutions, increasing the resilience of coastal areas to climate change.
AB - Tropical beaches provide coastal flood protection, income from tourism, and habitat for flagship species. They urgently need protection from erosion, which is being exacerbated by changing climate and coastal development. Traditional coastal engineering solutions are expensive, provide unstable temporary solutions, and often disrupt natural sediment transport. Instead, natural foreshore stabilization and nourishment may provide a sustainable and resilient long-term solution. Field flume and ecosystem process measurements, along with data from the literature, show that sediment stabilization by seagrass in combination with sediment-producing calcifying algae in the foreshore form an effective mechanism for maintaining tropical beaches worldwide. The long-term efficacy of this type of nature-based beach management is shown at a large scale by comparing vegetated and unvegetated coastal profiles. We argue that preserving and restoring vegetated beach foreshore ecosystems offers a viable, self-sustaining alternative to traditional engineering solutions, increasing the resilience of coastal areas to climate change.
KW - coastal erosion
KW - nature-based engineering
KW - ecosystem services
KW - coastal protection
KW - coastal management
KW - SEA-LEVEL RISE
KW - CARBONATE PRODUCTION
KW - HALIMEDA-INCRASSATA
KW - POSITIVE FEEDBACKS
KW - SEDIMENT
KW - ECOSYSTEMS
KW - IMPACTS
KW - WAVE
KW - NOURISHMENT
KW - DEPOSITION
U2 - 10.1093/biosci/biy154
DO - 10.1093/biosci/biy154
M3 - Article
VL - 69
SP - 136
EP - 142
JO - BioScience
JF - BioScience
SN - 0006-3568
IS - 2
ER -