Nukuhou coastal wetland. A tidal wetland with grey mangroves (Avicennia marina) and salt marsh threatened by sea level rise. At Ohiwa Harbor, North Island, New Zealand.
Glenn Guntenspergen, Ph.D.
Glenn is a Research Ecologist at the Eastern Ecological Science Center in Laurel, MD.
Science and Products
Coastal Wetland Vulnerability to Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise: Understanding Ecological Thresholds and Ecosystem Transformations
The Response of Coastal Wetlands to Sea-level Rise: Understanding how Macroscale Drivers Influence Local Processes and Feedbacks
The response of coastal wetlands to sea-level rise: Understanding how macroscale drivers influence local processes and feedbacks
Development of a Multimetric Index for Integrated Assessment of Salt Marsh Condition in the Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network
Improving Our Ability to Forecast Tidal Marsh Response to Sea Level Rise
Vulnerability Assessment of Available Habitat for Wintering Black Ducks within the Refuge System in the Chesapeake Bay
Hurricane Sandy Impacts on Coastal Wetland Resilience in the Northeast United States
SERAP: Assessment of Shoreline Retreat in Response to Sea Level Rise
Southeast Regional Assessment Project (SERAP): Assessing Global Change Impacts on Natural and Human Systems in the Southeast
North American dataset of ecosystem properties in tidal saline wetlands—Canopy height, aboveground biomass, productivity, soil carbon density, and soil carbon accumulation
2025 Wetland Accretion Measurements from Smithsonian Environmental Research Center SMARTX Warming Plots
Sediment core radioisotope measurements in coastal wetlands along the Chesapeake Bay
Surface Elevation Tablet Measurements from 10 USGS Sites Along the US Atlantic Coast (2005-2020)
Monitoring Changes in Surface Elevation Using Deep Surface Elevation Table and Marker Horizon Data at the Nisqually River Delta, Washington
Surface Elevation Table (SET) data from the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (2010-2013)
When and where could rising seas cross thresholds for initiating wetland drowning across conterminous United States?
Estuarine vegetated wetland change scenarios for estuaries in the conterminous United States, 1996–2019
Constraints on marsh response to accelerating sea level rise
Potential landward migration of coastal wetlands in response to sea-level rise within estuarine drainage areas and coastal states of the conterminous United States
Estuarine drainage area boundaries for the conterminous United States
Salt Marsh Turbidity at Mockhorn Island, VA; Plum Island, MA; York River, VA; and Altamaha River, GA
Nukuhou coastal wetland. A tidal wetland with grey mangroves (Avicennia marina) and salt marsh threatened by sea level rise. At Ohiwa Harbor, North Island, New Zealand.

Aerial view of shrub mangrove forest in Rangaunu Harbour expanding into coast salt marsh and threatening to move into agricultural land because of sea level rise.
Aerial view of shrub mangrove forest in Rangaunu Harbour expanding into coast salt marsh and threatening to move into agricultural land because of sea level rise.
Omaha-Taniko Scientific Preserve. An extensive saltmarsh area in the Whangateau Harbour that has a rare intact vegetation sequence from mangrove forest and scrub ecosystem to saltmarsh to the Mānuka-dominated scrub wetland to Kahikatea swamp forest.
Omaha-Taniko Scientific Preserve. An extensive saltmarsh area in the Whangateau Harbour that has a rare intact vegetation sequence from mangrove forest and scrub ecosystem to saltmarsh to the Mānuka-dominated scrub wetland to Kahikatea swamp forest.
To adapt to rising sea levels, coastal wetlands can migrate landward at the expense of adjacent freshwater wetlands and upland ecosystems, but migration can be hindered by natural and anthropogenic barriers. This photo shows marsh migration into an upland forest in Maryland.
To adapt to rising sea levels, coastal wetlands can migrate landward at the expense of adjacent freshwater wetlands and upland ecosystems, but migration can be hindered by natural and anthropogenic barriers. This photo shows marsh migration into an upland forest in Maryland.
Causal effects verses causal mechanisms: Two traditions with different requirements and contributions towards causal understanding
Ecological thresholds and transformations due to climate change: The role of abiotic stress
Nature-based solutions could offset coastal squeeze of tidal wetlands from sea-level rise on the U.S. Pacific coast
Book review: Ecology of Dakota landscapes: Past, present, and future, by W. Carter Johnson and Dennis H. Knight
Climate change and animal health.
A conterminous United States–Wide validation of relative tidal elevation products
Current advances in coastal wetland elevation dynamics: Introduction to the special issue
Incorporating measurements of vertical land motion in wetland surface elevation change analyses
Rising seas could cross thresholds for initiating coastal wetland drowning within decades across much of the United States
Microtopographic variation as a potential early indicator of ecosystem state change and vulnerability in salt marshes
Examining inequality in aquatic ecosystem services: Evidence from large-scale monitoring programs
Understanding marsh elevation and accretion processes and vulnerability to rising sea levels across climatic and geomorphic gradients in California, USA
Science and Products
Coastal Wetland Vulnerability to Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise: Understanding Ecological Thresholds and Ecosystem Transformations
The Response of Coastal Wetlands to Sea-level Rise: Understanding how Macroscale Drivers Influence Local Processes and Feedbacks
The response of coastal wetlands to sea-level rise: Understanding how macroscale drivers influence local processes and feedbacks
Development of a Multimetric Index for Integrated Assessment of Salt Marsh Condition in the Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network
Improving Our Ability to Forecast Tidal Marsh Response to Sea Level Rise
Vulnerability Assessment of Available Habitat for Wintering Black Ducks within the Refuge System in the Chesapeake Bay
Hurricane Sandy Impacts on Coastal Wetland Resilience in the Northeast United States
SERAP: Assessment of Shoreline Retreat in Response to Sea Level Rise
Southeast Regional Assessment Project (SERAP): Assessing Global Change Impacts on Natural and Human Systems in the Southeast
North American dataset of ecosystem properties in tidal saline wetlands—Canopy height, aboveground biomass, productivity, soil carbon density, and soil carbon accumulation
2025 Wetland Accretion Measurements from Smithsonian Environmental Research Center SMARTX Warming Plots
Sediment core radioisotope measurements in coastal wetlands along the Chesapeake Bay
Surface Elevation Tablet Measurements from 10 USGS Sites Along the US Atlantic Coast (2005-2020)
Monitoring Changes in Surface Elevation Using Deep Surface Elevation Table and Marker Horizon Data at the Nisqually River Delta, Washington
Surface Elevation Table (SET) data from the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (2010-2013)
When and where could rising seas cross thresholds for initiating wetland drowning across conterminous United States?
Estuarine vegetated wetland change scenarios for estuaries in the conterminous United States, 1996–2019
Constraints on marsh response to accelerating sea level rise
Potential landward migration of coastal wetlands in response to sea-level rise within estuarine drainage areas and coastal states of the conterminous United States
Estuarine drainage area boundaries for the conterminous United States
Salt Marsh Turbidity at Mockhorn Island, VA; Plum Island, MA; York River, VA; and Altamaha River, GA
Nukuhou coastal wetland. A tidal wetland with grey mangroves (Avicennia marina) and salt marsh threatened by sea level rise. At Ohiwa Harbor, North Island, New Zealand.
Nukuhou coastal wetland. A tidal wetland with grey mangroves (Avicennia marina) and salt marsh threatened by sea level rise. At Ohiwa Harbor, North Island, New Zealand.

Aerial view of shrub mangrove forest in Rangaunu Harbour expanding into coast salt marsh and threatening to move into agricultural land because of sea level rise.
Aerial view of shrub mangrove forest in Rangaunu Harbour expanding into coast salt marsh and threatening to move into agricultural land because of sea level rise.
Omaha-Taniko Scientific Preserve. An extensive saltmarsh area in the Whangateau Harbour that has a rare intact vegetation sequence from mangrove forest and scrub ecosystem to saltmarsh to the Mānuka-dominated scrub wetland to Kahikatea swamp forest.
Omaha-Taniko Scientific Preserve. An extensive saltmarsh area in the Whangateau Harbour that has a rare intact vegetation sequence from mangrove forest and scrub ecosystem to saltmarsh to the Mānuka-dominated scrub wetland to Kahikatea swamp forest.
To adapt to rising sea levels, coastal wetlands can migrate landward at the expense of adjacent freshwater wetlands and upland ecosystems, but migration can be hindered by natural and anthropogenic barriers. This photo shows marsh migration into an upland forest in Maryland.
To adapt to rising sea levels, coastal wetlands can migrate landward at the expense of adjacent freshwater wetlands and upland ecosystems, but migration can be hindered by natural and anthropogenic barriers. This photo shows marsh migration into an upland forest in Maryland.