A global meta-analysis on the drivers of salt marsh planting success and implications for ecosystem services

Zezheng Liu, Sergio Fagherazzi, Qiang He, Olivier Gourgue, Junhong Bai, Xinhui Liu, Chiyuan Miao, Zhan Hu () and Baoshan Cui ()
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Zezheng Liu: School of Environment, Beijing Normal University
Sergio Fagherazzi: Boston University
Qiang He: School of Life Sciences, Fudan University
Olivier Gourgue: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
Junhong Bai: School of Environment, Beijing Normal University
Xinhui Liu: School of Environment, Beijing Normal University
Chiyuan Miao: Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University
Zhan Hu: Sun Yat-Sen University, and Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai)
Baoshan Cui: School of Environment, Beijing Normal University

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Planting has been widely adopted to battle the loss of salt marshes and to establish living shorelines. However, the drivers of success in salt marsh planting and their ecological effects are poorly understood at the global scale. Here, we assemble a global database, encompassing 22,074 observations reported in 210 studies, to examine the drivers and impacts of salt marsh planting. We show that, on average, 53% of plantings survived globally, and plant survival and growth can be enhanced by careful design of sites, species selection, and novel planted technologies. Planting enhances shoreline protection, primary productivity, soil carbon storage, biodiversity conservation and fishery production (effect sizes = 0.61, 1.55, 0.21, 0.10 and 1.01, respectively), compared with degraded wetlands. However, the ecosystem services of planted marshes, except for shoreline protection, have not yet fully recovered compared with natural wetlands (effect size = −0.25, 95% CI −0.29, −0.22). Fortunately, the levels of most ecological functions related to climate change mitigation and biodiversity increase with plantation age when compared with natural wetlands, and achieve equivalence to natural wetlands after 5–25 years. Overall, our results suggest that salt marsh planting could be used as a strategy to enhance shoreline protection, biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47769-5

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