Hurricane Harvey: Coastal wetland plant responses and recovery in Texas: 2014-2019

The capacity of coastal wetlands to stabilize shorelines and reduce
erosion is a critical ecosystem service, and it is uncertain how
changes in dominant vegetation may affect coastal protection. As part
of a long-term study comparing ecosystem functions of marsh and black
mangrove vegetation, we have experimentally maintained marsh and black
mangrove patches (3 m x 3 m) along a plot-level (24 m x 42 m) gradient
of marsh and mangrove cover in coastal wetlands near Port Aransas,
Texas. In August 2017, this experiment was directly in the path of
Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm. This extreme disturbance event
provided an opportunity to quantify differences in resistance between
mangrove and marsh vegetation, and the recovery trajectories following
the storm. We collected data on changes in plant cover and height from
2014-2019.