How do shoreline changes influence Chesapeake and Delmarva bay
ecosystems? Project Status: This project began in January, 2010
and is projected to be completed in December, 2015 We are
supporting a large-scale research project to predict how
shoreline development interacts with other stresses to change
coastal ecosystems and the species that live in them. Research
findings apply to the restoration of marshland and submerged
aquatic vegetation as well as shoreline hardening. Coastal zone
managers and land use planners can use the results to transform
management from the current “parcel by parcel” approach to one
that can consider the whole ecosystem. Predictions of sea level
rise have encouraged land-owners to install bulkheads and riprap
(structure made of different kinds of rock or rubble) to protect
houses and other structures. In some Chesapeake Bay tributaries,
up to 80% of the shoreline has been “hardened” in this way.
Unfortunately, these installations impede natural processes such
as the growth of wetl