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COURSE INFO PROVIDER: SWSPCP Webinar
COURSE TITLE: Buying time — Salt marsh adaptive management to sea level rise using runnels

INSTRUCTORS Alice Besterman, Ph.D.

COURSE DESCRIPTION Buying time — Salt marsh adaptive management to sea level rise using runnels
Alice Besterman, Ph.D.
October 21, 2021

Abstract:

Salt marshes across the Northeast and Mid-
Atlantic are experiencing rapid expansion of
interior shallow water areas, which are "eating"
marshes from the inside out. These changes
are driven by sea level rise in interaction with
legacy effects from human modifications in
marshes. An emerging adaptation technique,
runnels, which resource managers have
piloted in the Northeast, attempts to slow the
advance through hydrologic modification.
Runnels are small channels created to restore
tidal hydrology, drain impounded water, and
promote revegetation. By simulating the
natural "pool recovery" process, managers
hope to slow or halt pool expansion, and even
facilitate marsh migration. Over a decade of
incremental application by restoration
practitioners have shown promising outcomes,
but controlled experimental studies and
quantitative assessments are limited. My
research team recently initiated an experiment
to test fundamental questions on mechanism,
generality, and effectiveness of runnels across
a 65,000 m2 study area. In this talk, I will
review the problem of shallow water
expansion, the history and theory of runnels as
used in tidal marsh adaptation, and describe
our large-scale experiment which is the first
controlled study of runnels conducted at this
scale. I will also present some preliminary
results from our experiment. Rapid salt marsh
loss is a "wicked problem"; runnels may offer
an opportunity to buy salt marshes time while
coastal communities adapt.

Dr. Besterman’s Bio:

Dr. Alice Besterman is a Postdoctoral
Researcher co-appointed with the Buzzards Bay
Coalition and Woodwell Climate Research
Center, and a Postdoctoral Fellow with the
Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center.
She received her bachelor's degree from
Virginia Commonwealth University in
Environmental Studies and her PhD from
University of Virginia in Environmental
Science. Besterman is a coastal ecologist
studying changes including sea level rise and
invasive species, and their effects on
ecosystems of conservation interest.
Besterman's PhD research assessed the
distribution and effects of an invasive seaweed
on intertidal mudflat communities along the
Virginia coast. Her postdoctoral work is
focused on northeastern tidal marsh
vulnerability and climate adaptation. Along
with project partners based at NGOs, state
and federal agencies, and academic
institutions, Besterman is focused on urgent
and actionable science that will be used in
coastal adaptation.

Credit Points: 0.06

SYLLABUS/TOPICAL OUTLINE 1) Pool expansion and marsh migration in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic saltmarshes (15 min.). 2) Use of a runnels in attempt to slow the expansion of interior shallow water areas in saltmarshes (15 min.). 3) Controlled experimental studies and quantitative assessments currently conducted by Buzzards Bay Coalition & Woodwell Climate Research Center (15 min.). 4) Questions and Answers (15 min.).

COURSE CONTACT

Louis Mantini
9225 CR49, Live Oak, FL 32060
LFM@SRWMD.ORG
P: 386.647.3144
F: 386.362.1001

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