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Data from: Wave attenuation by intertidal vegetation is mediated by trade-offs between shoot- and canopy-scale plant traits
Citable as data publication
Schoutens, K.; Silinski, A.; Belliard, J.; Bouma, T.; Temmerman, S.; Schoelynck, J.; (2024): Wave attenuation by intertidal vegetation is mediated by trade-offs between shoot- and canopy-scale plant traits. https://doi.org/10.14284/674
Contact: Schoutens, Ken
Availability: Creative Commons License This dataset is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Description
  1. Nature-based solutions, through conservation or (re)creation of vegetated shorelines, are recognized to mitigate the impact of waves and erosion risks on shorelines. Wave attenuation is known to be dependent on plant traits, resulting in increasing wave attenuation rates with increasing shoot density, shoot thickness, height and stiffness. However, following the allometric scaling theory, we hypothesize that increasing shoot density (a canopy scale trait) may be associated with decreasing shoot thickness and stiffness (a shoot scale trait), with potential opposing effects on overall wave attenuation.
  2. This study investigates (1) the presence of such allometric relations across intertidal shore plant species via existing literature and (2) the trade-off effects on overall wave attenuation capacity of shore vegetation through a flume experiment. 
  3. Our results reveal for the first time the presence of allometric relationships between shoot-scale and canopy-scale plant properties in perennial intertidal plant species. Across different species, increasing shoot densities are indeed associated with decreasing shoot thickness and shoot stiffness. 
  4. Next, we performed a wave flume experiment with plant mimics, showing that wave attenuation rate follows a logarithmic increase with increasing shoot density, even though the increasing shoot density was associated with thinner and more flexible individual shoots.
  5. Synthesis and applications: We conclude that wave attenuation is predominantly governed by canopy-scale properties, but a trade-off with shoot-scale properties mediates the overall wave attenuation capacity of the vegetated shore. Our findings imply that nature-based projects (re-)creating vegetated shorelines should account for potential trade-off effects of species-specific plant traits at the canopy scale and individual shoot scale.
Scope
Themes:
Biology, Biology > Ecology - biodiversity, Biology > Plants, Coastal studies (e.g. shores, estuaries), Physical > Waves - swell
Keywords:
Marine/Coastal, Brackish water, Allometric growth, Allometry, ASSEMBLEPlus Transnational Access, Beach erosion, Coastal erosion, Coastal protection against erosion, Flood Risk Management, Intertidal environment, Nature development, Nature restoration, Nature-based solutions, Risk Management, Tidal analysis, Tidal marshes, Wave attenuation, Wave flumes, Northwest Europe, Plantae
Geographical coverage
Northwest Europe [Marine Regions]
Temporal coverage
23 March 2016
Taxonomic coverage
Plantae [WoRMS]
Parameters
Density Methodology
Flexural stiffness of mimics Methodology
Stem diameter Methodology
Wave attenuation Methodology
Density: Counts per sample
Flexural stiffness of mimics: Three-point bending flexural test

Stem diameter: Caliper or calliper
Caliper or calliper
Wave attenuation: Pressure sensors
High accuracy pressure sensors installed on bottom-mounted frames.
Contributors
Universiteit Antwerpen (UA), more, data creator, data creator
Schoutens, Ken
Belliard, Jean-Philippe
Temmerman, Stijn
Schoelynck, Jonas
EGTC Euregio Meuse-Rhine, more, data creator
Silinski, Alexandra
Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee (NIOZ), more, data creator, data creator
Bouma, Tjeerd
URL
Other:
Dataset status: Completed
Data type: Data
Data origin: Research: lab experiment
Metadatarecord created: 2024-07-19
Information last updated: 2024-08-13
All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy