Understanding the journey from salt marsh seed to seedling

Publication date: Friday 14 October 2022

Restoration of salt marshes on a global scale is urgently needed. This is because of the rapid intensification of climate change and human influences combined with the slow natural recovery of salt marshes. "I dissected the processes associated with the successful transition from seeds to seedlings. It provides insights into both opportunities and bottlenecks at each step of the accretion process," says Zhiyuan Zhao, researcher at the department of Estuarine & Delta Systems, NIOZ. This mechanistic process study can be translated into practical guidelines for effective conservation and restoration of salt marshes using a seed or seedling-based approach. This can help integrate salt marshes into nature-based applications such as coastal defence, climate stability or carbon sequestration.

The cartoon shows the salt marsh seed as an adventurer and shows the adventure routes and major issues associated with this PhD research. Images by Zhiyuan Zhoa, NIOZ.

During his PhD, Zhiyuan Zhao investigated what factors allow seedlings to ground and persist in saltmarshes. Findings demonstrate that the seed-based growth in salt marshes is much more intricate than previously expected. Furthermore, we provide insight into the critical factors that have overriding effects on each recruitment process and highlight the variability of their impacts across species and among sites.

The results provide guidelines and valuable first-hand data for future model efforts to simulate salt marsh evolution and identify demographic stages that drive recruitment failures. More importantly, this mechanistic process study can be translated into practical guidelines for effective conservation and restoration of salt marshes through seed-based or seedling-based approaches, thereby contributing to incorporating salt marshes in nature-based applications such as coastal defense, climate stability, or carbon sequestration.