Journal
ESTUARIES AND COASTS
Volume 35, Issue 3, Pages 727-742Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s12237-011-9468-5
Keywords
Salt marsh restoration; Salt marsh nekton; Phragmites australis; Spartina; OMWM; Integrated marsh management; Salt marsh mosquitoes
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An integrated marsh management (IMM) project in an urbanized watershed on Long Island, New York, USA, aimed to mitigate salt marsh degradation and to reduce mosquito production by an innovative combination of restoration and open marsh water management methods. The grid ditch network at two treatment marshes was replaced with naturalized tidal channels and ponds. Effects of the hydrologic alterations were monitored utilizing a before-after-control-impact approach. The treatment marshes experienced a number of beneficial outcomes including a fourfold reduction in the invasive Phragmites australis and increased native vegetation cover in the most degraded portions of the marsh, increased abundance and diversity of marsh killifish and estuarine nekton species, higher shorebird and waterfowl densities, and increased avian species diversity. The successful implementation of IMM concept led to improved marsh health and diminished mosquito production. Therefore, this study may serve as a template for similar large-scale integrated salt marsh restoration projects.
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