Monitoring recovery dynamics of salt marsh pools with focus on their habitat provisioning to fish

Salt marshes are highly productive coastal ecosystems that have faced extensive impacts from human activities. They provide an extensive array of services including the provisioning of habitat to a diversity of species. In Maritime Canada, acres of salt marsh have been diked to accommodate agricultural land, freshwater impoundments, and infrastructure. Increasing recognition of the services provided by salt marshes coupled with degrading and failing dike systems has sparked interest in restoring these areas back to their original state. Ducks Unlimited Canada (DUC) has initiated a number of salt marsh restorations across Maritime Canada. The proposed internship will monitor the response of salt marsh pools in five of DUC’s salt marsh restorations in this region. Salt pools provide critical aquatic refuge to fish and invertebrates during periods of low tide. The intern will sample the fish and aquatic invertebrate communities and measure various abiotic conditions in salt pools in restoring salt marshes and in nearby natural salt marshes. Comparing faunal communities and abiotic conditions in salt pools between restoring and natural marshes is crucial to understanding how this subhabitat progresses through restoration. This information will be useful to DUC for predicting salt marsh restoration trajectories and improving restoration strategies.

Faculty Supervisor:

Myriam Barbeau

Student:

Partner:

Ducks Unlimited Canada (NS)

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services; Agriculture; Other services (except public administration); Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of New Brunswick

Program:

Accelerate