The successful implementation and sustainability of many marsh restoration efforts, including coastal adaptation to buffer inundation and mitigate sea level rise, often hinges upon support from surrounding human communities. Yet, stakeholder engagement in these projects remains relatively undervalued and underutilized. We present the Social-Ecological Systems, Adaptive Management, and Engagement (SESAME) framework that provides reciprocal connections between the human and ecological components of restoration efforts and the resulting management and engagement needs. We built and describe this framework through discussion of two case studies of coastal restoration efforts in southern New England salt marshes. The first case study focuses on the use of sediment placement to increase the elevation of the surface of a drowning marsh in Rhode Island as an interim measure to protect against sea level rise. The second case study describes the use of living shorelines for erosion mitigation on a salt marsh in Massachusetts. These cases included significant partner and stakeholder engagement and provided important lessons learned for practical implementation of the SESAME framework. Valuable lessons included the need for engagement throughout the entirety of the process, specific clarification of roles within the restoration efforts, and flexibility in implementation and goal setting.

Accurately mapping, modeling, and managing the diversity of wetlands present in estuaries often relies on habitat classification systems that consistently identify differences in biotic structure or other ecosystem characteristics between classes. We used field data from four Oregon estuaries to test for differences in vegetation structure and edaphic characteristics among three tidal emergent marsh classes derived from National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) data: low marsh, high marsh, and palustrine tidal marsh. Independently of NWI class, we also evaluated the number and types of plant assemblages present and how edaphic variables, non-native plant cover, and plant species richness varied among them. Pore water salinity varied most strongly across marsh classes, with sediment carbon and nitrogen content, grain size and marsh surface elevation showing smaller differences. Cover of common vascular plant species differed between marsh classes and overall vegetation composition was somewhat distinct among marsh types. High marsh had the largest species pools. However, plot-level plant diversity was similar among marsh classes. Non-native species cover was highest in palustrine and high marshes. The marshes in the study contained a large number of plant assemblages with most occurring across more than one marsh class. The more common assemblages occurred along a continuum of tidal elevation, soil salinity, and edaphic characteristics, with varying plant richness and non-native cover. Our data suggest that NWI classes are useful for differentiating several general features of Oregon tidal marsh structure, but that more detailed information on plant assemblages found within those wetland classes would allow more precise characterization of additional wetland features such as edaphic conditions and plant diversity.

The dependence of downstream waters on upstream ecosystems necessitates an improved understanding of watershed-scale hydrological interactions including connections between wetlands and streams. An evaluation of such connections is challenging when, (1) accurate and complete datasets of wetland and stream locations are often not available and (2) natural variability in surface-water extent influences the frequency and duration of wetland/stream connectivity. The Upper Choptank River watershed on the Delmarva Peninsula in eastern Maryland and Delaware is dominated by a high density of small, forested wetlands. In this analysis, wetland/stream surface water connections were quantified using multiple wetland and stream datasets, including headwater streams and depressions mapped from a lidar-derived digital elevation model. Surface-water extent was mapped across the watershed for spring 2015 using Landsat-8, Radarsat-2 and Worldview-3 imagery. The frequency of wetland/stream connections increased as a more complete and accurate stream dataset was used and surface-water extent was included, in particular when the spatial resolution of the imagery was finer (i.e., <10 m). Depending on the datasets used, 12% to 60% of wetlands by count (21% to 93% of wetlands by area) experienced surface-water interactions with streams during spring 2015. This translated into a range of 50% to 94% of the watershed contributing direct surface water runoff to streamflow. This finding suggests that our interpretation of the frequency and duration of wetland/stream connections will be influenced not only by the spatial and temporal characteristics of wetlands, streams and potential flowpaths, but also by the completeness, accuracy and resolution of input datasets.

Around 1990, when in other countries mangrove protection took off, massive conversion of mangrove forest into shrimp ponds started in the Mahakam delta. To identify constraints to and options for sustainable management we analysed institutions and constraints with stakeholders. In 3 sites we used participatory tools and a complementary survey to assess the livelihood framework. Since 1970, ponds for shrimp farming gradually replaced 75% of mangrove forested area. After 2004, recovery of mangrove took off, as, mainly due to low shrimp yields, ponds were abandoned. In 2008, 54% of the delta was dedicated to ponds for shrimp production. Around 80% of livelihood activities of pond-farmers, pond caretakers, and fishermen was related to mangroves. The involvement of men and women in these activities varied between sites and types. Poor households depended more on mangroves. Most activities resulted in seasonal income peaks; only a few activities resulted in a full daily livelihood. Ponds, on the other hand, provide 50% of households' livelihood, but this remains vulnerable in the context of the risky shrimp production. Skewed land holding, unequal sharing of benefits, competing claims and vested interests of stakeholders pose a great challenge to a transition to a more sustainable use of the mangrove area. In particular, ponds located on peat soils are non-sustainable and would require full restoration into mangrove; ponds on other soils could best be transformed into a mixed mangrove-pond system using a 'green-water' technology.

Ecosystem function in rivers, lakes and coastal waters depends on the functioning of upstream aquatic ecosystems, necessitating an improved understanding of watershed-scale interactions including variable surface-water flows between wetlands and streams. As surface water in the Prairie Pothole Region expands in wet years, surface-water connections occur between many depressional wetlands and streams. Minimal research has explored the spatial patterns and drivers for the abundance of these connections, despite their potential to inform resource management and regulatory programs including the U.S. Clean Water Act. In this study, wetlands were identified that did not intersect the stream network, but were shown with Landsat images (1990-2011) to become merged with the stream network as surface water expanded. Wetlands were found to spill into or consolidate with other wetlands within both small (2-10 wetlands) and large (>100 wetlands) wetland clusters, eventually intersecting a stream channel, most often via a riparian wetland. These surface-water connections occurred over a wide range of wetland distances from streams (averaging 90-1400 m in different ecoregions). Differences in the spatial abundance of wetlands that show a variable surface-water connection to a stream were best explained by smaller wetland-to-wetland distances, greater wetland abundance, and maximum surface-water extent. This analysis demonstrated that wetland arrangement and surface water expansion are important mechanisms for depressional wetlands to connect to streams and provides a first step to understanding the frequency and abundance of these surface-water connections across the Prairie Pothole Region.

Several wetland classification schemes are now commonly used to describe wetlands in the contiguous United States to meet local, regional, and national regulatory requirements. However, these established systems have proven to be insufficient to meet the needs of land managers in Alaska. The wetlands of this northern region are predominantly peatlands, which are not adequately treated by the nationally-used systems, which have few, if any, peatland classes. A new system was therefore devised to classify wetlands in the rapidly urbanizing Cook Inlet Basin of southcentral Alaska, USA. The Cook Inlet Classification (CIC) is based on seven geomorphic and six hydrologic components that incorporate the environmental gradients responsible for the primary sources of variation in peatland ecosystems. The geomorphic and hydrologic components have the added advantage of being detectable on remote sensing imagery, which facilitates regional mapping across large tracts of inaccessible terrain. Three different quantitative measures were used to evaluate the robustness and performance of the CIC classes relative to that of other commonly used systems in the contiguous United States. The high within-group similarity of the classes identified by the CIC was clearly superior to that of the other systems, demonstrating the need for improved wetland classification systems specifically devised for regions with a high cover of peatlands.

The emergent aquatic plant, is an easily-identified and commonly-found species in the Great Plains region of North America and has the potential to be a bioindicator of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) because of its previously-identified leaf plasticity in response to nutrient conditions. To identify associations between leaf morphology and soil and water nutrients, we conducted: (1) a 10-week controlled experiment in which plants were grown in nutrient-enriched sediment, nutrient-enriched water, or unamended control trials, and (2) a field study where emergent leaves were collected from 15 streams of varying nutrient concentrations. Plants grown in experimentally enriched sediment were more productive than those grown in enriched water or control conditions: they produced more emergent leaves and tubers, had a larger final biomass and height, and developed emergent leaves that showed a consistent increase in size and unique change in shape over time. Emergent leaves collected from field plants also showed significant variability of leaf traits; however, this variability occurred at all scales of replication (leaf, plant, quadrat, and site), with linear mixed effects modelling indicating that random chance was likely driving this variability. Although sediment nutrients were crucial to successful growth of under controlled conditions, the high variability in leaf morphology under field conditions (likely due to large natural variability at the species, population, and individual scale) make leaf plasticity of unsuitable as a bioindicator. Our results emphasize the need to quantify within and among plant variation in leaf morphology (and to clarify sampling methods) for the many taxa of aquatic macrophytes that are phenotypically plastic and notoriously difficult to classify.

Microbial respiration (R) and ecoenzyme activities (EEA) related to microbial carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus acquisition were measured in 792 freshwater and estuarine wetlands (representing a cumulative area of 217,480 km) across the continental United States as part of the US EPA's 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment. EEA stoichiometry was used to construct models for and assess nutrient limitation, carbon use efficiency (CUE), and organic matter decomposition (- ). The wetlands were classified into ten groups based on aggregated ecoregion and wetland type. The wetlands were also assigned to least, intermediate, and most disturbed classes, based on the extent of human influences. Ecoenzyme activity related to C, N and P acquisition, R, CUE, and (- differed among ecoregion-wetland types and, with the exception of C acquisition and (- , among disturbance classes. R and EEA were positively correlated with soil C, N and P content (r = 0.15-0.64) and stoichiometry (r = 0.15-0.48), and negatively correlated with an index of carbon quality (r = - 0.22 to - 0.39). EEA stoichiometry revealed that wetlands were more often P- than N-limited, and that P-limitation increases with increasing disturbance. Our enzyme-based approach for modeling C, N, and P acquisition, and organic matter decomposition, all rooted in stoichiometric theory, provides a mechanism for modeling resource limitations of microbial metabolism and biogeochemical cycling in wetlands. Given the ease of collecting and analyzing soil EEA and their response to wetland disturbance gradients, enzyme stoichiometry models are a cost-effective tool for monitoring ecosystem responses to resource availability and the environmental drivers of microbial metabolism, including those related to global climate changes.

The middle Paroo lowlands in semi-arid western New South Wales support numerous intermittent wetlands of various types. Differences between them are promoted by three ecological drivers: salinity, turbidity and hydroperiod. Community structure and phenology of the two most common types, saline lakes and claypans, are known but similar ecologies are lacking for the third most common wetland, the treed swamps. These are of six subtypes distinguished by dominant tree species, geomorphology and hydroperiod, all with similar community structure and phenology, but with differing invertebrate diversities. Summed diversity is not as high as in local creek pools, the shorter hydroperiods and simpler geomorphology of the treed swamps being restrictive so that there is almost no replacement of species during the early dominance of branchiopods and later of insects. Such treed swamps are uncommon in the semi-arid zone, but much more speciose treed swamps are known under similar and seasonally dry Mediterranean climates of the Western Australian Wheatbelt where hydroperiods are more stable.

Globally, saline lakes occupy about 23% by area, and 44% by volume. Importantly, these lakes might desiccate by 2025 due to agricultural diversion, illegal encroachment, or modify due to pollution, and invasive species. India's largest saline lake, Sambhar is currently shrinking at a phenomenal rate of 4.23% every decade due to illegal saltpan encroachments. This study aims to identify the trend of migratory birds and monthly wetland status. Birds' survey was conducted for 2019, 2020 and 2021, and combined it with literature data of 1994, 2003, and 2013, for understanding their visiting trends, feeding habits, migratory and resident birds ratio, along with ecological diversity index analysis. Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) was scripted in Google Earth Engine. Results state that lake has been suitable for 97 species. Highest NDWI values was 0.71 in 2021 and lowest 0.008 in 2019. Notably, the decreasing trend of migratory birds coupled with decreasing water level indicates the dubious status for its existence. If these causal factors are not checked, it might completely desiccate. Authors recommend a few steps that might help conservation. Least, the cost of restoration might exceed the revenue generation.

Climate change threatens global mangroves, which are already among the world's most impacted ecosystems. Vulnerability components of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity were evaluated on mangroves of atoll settings on Jaluit Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, assessing spatial changes of mangrove cover 1945-2018/19, sea-level trends 1968-2019, and reviewing available information. Inland mangrove depressions occur on Jaluit, as well as coastal lagoon margin mangroves, and both were assessed using the same methods. Spatial analysis results showed both inland and coastal mangroves have increased in area. Inland mangroves on eight of Jaluit's islands mostly expanded after 1976 from 40 to 50 hectares, with progradation and tidal creek infill closing lagoon connections. Shoreline mangroves showed 88-100% of transects prograding 0.1-0.51 m year and 0-11.5% of transects eroding 0-0.18 m year. Assessment of a combination of aerial/satellite images, literature and on-the-ground photos indicated that the mangroves are in healthy condition. Vulnerability assessment results showed both inland and coastal mangroves to have similar strengths and weaknesses in resilience, with intrinsic areas of vulnerability persisting during increased future sea level rise, limited sediment supply and extremely low elevations.

We compared a set of uni-varied diversity metrics of a guild of water-related birds (hereafter 'waterbirds') before and after a wetland restoration carried out on uncultivated (reclaimed) lands. Over a period of five years, we observed a restart of seasonal waterbirds dynamics after wetland restoration by flooding of abandoned croplands, with a significant increase in all metrics of diversity, more evident in autumn-winter periods. Seasonal thresholds were evident before (2017-2018) and after (2018-2019) the flooding. These dynamics appeared irregular, probably for a different inter-annual suitability of the flooded meadows due to local ecological factors (e.g., change in meteorological regime and in rush-bed vegetation cover). Rarefaction curves, both for richness and diversity, showed how the waterbird community moved towards a greater complexity. Flooded meadow restoration, particularly favoured wintering species in Mediterranean sites, which explained the strong fluctuations in total abundance. At the species level, Northern Lapwing (), absent before restoration, was the most abundant species after flooding, using flooded meadows with its gregarious behaviour. This 'crowding' may be explained also for a lack of similar habitats in the surrounding. Other dominant species () showed a significant increase after restoration. Standardized before-after monitoring on medium term time periods seem suitable to evidence inter-annual season dynamics in diversity metrics of waterbird assemblages.