Coastal Marsh Dieback (Brown Marsh)
In the year 2000, coastal marsh dieback was found in parts of Texas and Florida and throughout coastal Louisiana. For example, the Barataria-Terrebonne intertidal salt marshes (mostly composed of smooth cordgrass) cover about 390,000 acres. About 110,000 acres were seriously affected by the dieback, and of those acres at least 17,000 have converted from dense vegetation to open mud flats with little or no vegetation. Almost 150,000 acres were considered moderately impacted.
Research: Understanding the Causes of Salt Marsh Dieback
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Clonal Variation in Spartina alterniflora: Role in Resistance to the Marsh Dieback Phenomenon (Dr. Rebecca Howard)
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Studies on the Recovery of Intact Sods Collected from Dieback and Healthy Marshes in the Summer of 2000 (Drs. Rebecca Howard and Karen L. McKee)
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Mapping of Marsh Dieback by Aerial Photography
- Aerial Surveys to Document and Monitor Spatial Extent, Changes Over Time, and Vegetation Characteristics of Coastal Marsh Dieback in Louisiana (Dr. Thomas C. Michot)
Marsh Dieback Bibliography:
- Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Task Force, 2000, Brown Marsh Study Area: Satellite image with the salt marsh study area boundary in red: CWPPRA Task Force Fact Sheet, 1 p.
- Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Task Force, 2000, Brown Marsh Fact Sheet: Facts about the salt marsh dieback in Louisiana: CWPPRA Task Force Fact Sheet, 1 p.
- Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Task Force, 2000, Brown Marsh Phenomenon: Dieback of large expanses of salt marsh grass in Coastal Louisiana: CWPPRA Task Force Fact Sheet, 1 p.
- Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Task Force, 2000, Brown Marsh Severity: Aerial surveys of salt marsh damage in the Barataria and Terrebonne basins: CWPPRA Task Force Fact Sheet No, 1 p.
- Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Task Force, 2000, Brown Marsh Q & A: Questions and answers from the brown marsh scientific panel and other meetings: CWPPRA Task Force Fact Sheet No. 5, 2 p.
- Lindstedt, Dianne M. and Erick M. Swenson, 2006, The Case of the Dying Marsh Grass: Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, Baton Rouge, La., 19 p.
- Salt Marsh Dieback in Louisiana: Brown marsh data information management system
- Stewart, Robert E., Jr., Proffitt, C. Edward, and Charron, T.M. eds., 2001, Abstracts from “Coastal Marsh Dieback in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Extent, Causes, Consequences, and Remedies”: U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Information and Technology Report, USGS/BRD/ITR—2001-0003, 31 p.
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U.S. Geological Survey