Coastal Wetland Dieback: The Phenomenon of Marsh Browning & Marsh Dieback

By Leah Stetson – Association of State Wetland Managers – December 2006

Wetland scientists and riverkeepers have observed a distinct, disturbing change in the coastal marsh landscape since the 1990s—in the pan handle of Florida, and since 2000—in Louisiana, Georgia and Virginia, as the once green, intertidal smooth cord grass (Spartina alterniflora) turned unusually brown at a rapid rate, then died. The specific details of the dieback vary significantly from place to place. For example, in some cases, the original vegetation reestablished itself at the dieback sites, whereas in others, different vegetation supplanted the previously dominant species; yet in other marshes, vegetation remains absent.

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Recent Reports/Studies

Status of Sudden Wetland Dieback in Saltmarshes of the Delaware Inland Bays
February 2007, by Chris Bason, Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, Amy Jacobs, Andy Howard, & Melanie Tymes, Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control

Multi-Decadal Changes in Salt Marshes of Cape Cod, Massachusetts: a Photographic Analysis of Vegetation Loss, Species Shifts, and Geomorphic Change
2008, by Stephen M. Smith, Ph. D., Cape Cod National Seashore (2008)