Disturbance and recovery at three headward-eroding creeks on Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA.

We studied the perturbation caused by the movement of headward-eroding creeks onto the marsh platform in southeastern USA salt marshes. Between May and November 2019, we measured the disturbance responses of 19 variables in terms of both magnitude (the difference between perturbed areas and control areas located on the marsh platform) and recovery trajectory (evaluated using a space for time substitution design along a marsh transect that ran the length of the newly-formed creek). Variables measured include stem density, stem height, burrow density, snail density, sediment redox, soil water content, soil salinity, soil organic content, soil pH, soil surface temperature, root biomass, rhizome biomass, concentration of green algae, concentration of cyanobacteria, concentration of diatoms, soil stiffness, light interception by the canopy, marsh soil surface elevation, and number of years since disturbed.