Beyond waves and shifting sand: considering ecosystem processes in forecasts of coastal landscape change - Sara Zeigler (USGS), Megan Jones (Oregon State University and USGS), Erika Lentz (USGS), and Ian Reeves (USGS)

In this webinar, members of the Powell Center working group focused on dynamic coastal change will discuss their experiences, findings, and lessons learned since being funded in 2023. The lead PIs (Sara Zeigler, Davina Passeri, and Erika Lentz) worked closely as part of the Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program and recognized that coastal ecosystem processes were rarely incorporated into the barrier island models they frequently worked with. They formed a working group with expertise in geology, oceanography, ecology of specific coastal ecosystems, geography, and social sciences to tackle this problem. As part of the first meeting, the group explored the key role of humans in driving coastal landscape change, the importance of inherent mechanisms that allow coastal ecosystems to maintain form and function following storms and sea-level rise, and the processes that occur as ecosystems transition in form. During this period, the working group's postdoctoral fellow, Ian Reeves, expanded the capability of his tool Mesoscale Explicit Ecogeomorphic Barrier model (MEEB), which considers geological, oceanographic, and ecological processes in barrier island evolution.

In the webinar, speakers will describe the tool and how it was used to explore some of the working group's research questions, such as how climate-driven changes in vegetation composition may influence barrier island structure. Finally, the webinar will also touch on a complementary study of the working group's dynamics as an interdisciplinary team, led by Amanda Cravens and Megan Jones. In general, the webinar will explore both the working group's scientific findings and the foundational work the group did to promote effective collaboration.

Powell Center Working Group webpage for Beyond Waves and Shifting Sand Working Group
 

Speakers:

Sara Zeigler is a research geographer at the U.S. Geological Survey. She uses landscape modeling, geographic information systems, remote sensing classification, and (non-human) population modeling to better understand how sea-level rise and storms impact coastal species.

Megan Jones is a conservation social scientist based at Oregon State University, where she is jointly an Assistant Professor in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences and an Assistant Unit Leader in the U.S. Geological Survey Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit.

Erika Lentz is a research geologist at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center with the U.S. Geological Survey. She leads research at USGS within the Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program focused on coastal change— including understanding the forces and processes that drive it, developing innovative methods to determine where and when it is likely to occur, and working closely with intended users to ensure the scientific information we produce is meaningful, actionable, and accessible. 

Ian Reeves is a Research Geographer at the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center. His expertise includes coastal processes, geomorphology, coastal ecosystems, numerical modeling, and barrier island migration.