Salt marsh

A coastal wetland regularly flooded by tides, where salt-tolerant plants grow in waterlogged, saline soils. Its habitats shift with elevation, flooding frequency, and salinity.

Tidal flooding: The periodic inundation of coastal land caused by the rise and fall of tides. Flooding frequency determines marsh elevation zones and the conditions plants must tolerate.
Estuary: A coastal water body where river freshwater mixes with seawater. Many salt marshes occupy sheltered estuaries, where river flow meets the tides.
Coastal protection: Measures that reduce damage to shorelines and communities from waves, flooding, and erosion. Marsh vegetation and soils can reduce wave energy and limit shoreline erosion.
Sea-level rise: A long-term increase in the average level of the sea relative to land. Rising water increases flooding pressure and can outpace marsh elevation gains.
Everglades: A vast subtropical wetland system in southern Florida, including freshwater marshes and coastal ecosystems. Its freshwater marshes contrast with the saline tidal wetlands defined here.
Salt tolerance: The ability of an organism to survive and grow in saline conditions. Marsh plants need physiological strategies to withstand salt in soil and water.
Halophyte: A plant adapted to complete its life cycle in saline conditions. Salt marsh vegetation is dominated by halophytes suited to local flooding and salinity.
Blue carbon: Carbon captured and stored by coastal and marine ecosystems. Salt-marsh soils can retain carbon in accumulated organic matter.
Coastal squeeze: The loss of intertidal habitat when rising seas meet fixed coastal development or barriers. Development behind a marsh can prevent its inland migration as seas rise.
Wadden Sea: A shallow coastal sea of tidal flats and wetlands along the North Sea shores of the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Its extensive tidal landscape includes salt-marsh habitats shaped by sediment and tides.

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