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Elsevier

Ecology, Research, Management and Biodiversity of Wadden Sea Salt Marshes

  • 1st Edition - September 1, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Authors: Jan Bakker, Jesper Barthold, Peter Esselink, Kai Jensen, Stefanie Nolte
  • Language: English

Ecology, Research, Management and Biodiversity of Wadden Sea Salt Marshes assesses the transition of the UNESCO Wadden Sea World Heritage Site from agricultural land to protected… Read more

Description

Ecology, Research, Management and Biodiversity of Wadden Sea Salt Marshes assesses the transition of the UNESCO Wadden Sea World Heritage Site from agricultural land to protected nature reserve from the 1970s to present day. Bordered by Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands, the Wadden Sea is home to barrier island marshes, man-made foreland salt marshes, and estuarine marshes. This book explores the important question of how to prioritize the biodiversity of man-made and natural ecosystems during such a transition and how to effectively manage it.

Written by leading experts in coastal marsh ecology, this book collates half a century of research along the Wadden Sea. It is systematically organized for effective delivery of its major themes. The first section of the book discusses the crucial mechanisms of differing salt-marsh ecosystems. The second section examines how various management regimes, including livestock grazing, drainage, cutting, and restoration, affect these mechanisms. The third section concludes the book by summarizing the results of unintentional and deliberate management efforts to maintain salt marsh biodiversity.

Ecology, Research, Management and Biodiversity of Wadden Sea Salt Marshes comprehensively summarizes the multi-decadal collaboration between conservation agencies and universities from the Wadden Sea's bordering countries to examine the effectiveness and utility of various marsh management regimes. This book is an indispensable resource for researchers, land managers, and policy makers tasked with maintaining natural and man-made biodiversity and effectively ushering coastal marsh communities through land use changes.

Key features

  • Summarizes 50 years of research on salt-marsh biodiversity
  • Explains the biodiversity of plants, mammals, birds, invertebrates, and their interactions
  • Integrates changes in grazing management with fundamental research
  • Compares natural and man-made salt marsh success

Readership

Researchers studying salt marsh biodiversity, resource managers, policy makers, and coastal conservation biologists
Advanced undergraduate and graduate students

Table of contents

Section I: Mechanisms in Functioning of Salt-Marsh Ecosystems

1. Introduction

2. Salt-Marsh Biodiversity

3. Salt Marshes in the World

4. Biodiversity

5. Salt-Marsh Types in the Wadden Sea

6. Diachronic Development of Salt Marshes and their Position in a Landscape Triangle

7. Biogeomorphology of Salt Marshes

8. Back-Barrier Salt Marshes

9. Foreland Salt Marshes

10. Interaction Between Sediment Input, Surface Elevation Change and Plants

11. Zonation and Succession

12. Dispersal of Seeds in Relation to the Established Vegetation

13. Soil Conditions, Nutrients, and Succession

14. Elytrigia ahterica and succession

15. Elevation, Salinity, and Precipitation

16. Invertebrate Animals and Succession

17. Geese, hare and succession

18. Foraging of geese

19. Hare retard succession

20. Food webs and succession

Section II: Effects of Management on Mechanisms Functioning in Salt-Marsh Ecosystems

21. Introduction

22. Factors affecting accretion and surface elevation change

23. Effects on surface-elevation change

24. Effects on soil compaction

25. Effects on mineralization

26. Effects on moisture conditions

27. Grazing intensity and structure of the vegetation

28. Forage quality affecting structure of the vegetation

29. Effects on intermediate-sized herbivores and food webs

30. Grazing, mowing and plants

Section III: Management for Biodiversity and Coastal Protection

31. Introduction

32. To Graze or Not to Graze? Cessation of Livestock Grazing: Effects on Plants

33. To Graze or Not to Graze? Renewed Grazing

34. Grazing with Different Stocking Densities: Effects on Plants

35. What Regime Harbors Highest Plant Species Richness?

36. Grazing Effects on Invertebrate Animals

37. Effects of Livestock Grazing on Geese, Waders and Passerines

38. Effects of Grazing on Vegetation and Invertebrates in Foreland Salt Marsh of Leybucht

39. Effects of Grazing on Communities in Foreland Salt Marsh of Hamburger Hallig

40. Effects of Grazing on Communities in Foreland Salt Marsh of Noord-Friesland Buitendijks

41. Sea-Level Rise and Vertical Accretion

42. Sea-Level Rise and Horizontal Accretion (Coastal Realignment) in Noord-Friesland Buitendijks

43. Implications for Management

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: September 1, 2026
  • Language: English

About the authors

JB

Jan Bakker

Dr. Jan Bakker is Emeritus Professor in the Conservation Ecology Group of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He obtained his PhD in Plant Ecology from the University of Groningen and has worked at the university for his entire career, which has enabled him to maintain long-term field research on the Wadden Sea. His research focuses on conservation and management of coastal ecosystems. Dr. Bakker co-initiated the international annual Coastal Ecology Workshop for PhD and MSc students. He chaired the Geoscience Group to prepare the Trilateral Research Agenda and has been a member of the Trilateral Program Committee on Wadden Sea Research since its initiation in 2020.
Affiliations and expertise
University of Groningen Conservation Ecology Group (CEG), The Netherlands

JB

Jesper Barthold

Dr. Jesper Bartholdy is Emeritus Professor in the University of Copenhagen Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management. He obtained his PhD in Physical Geography from the University of Copenhagen and has worked at the university for his entire career. Dr. Bartholdy’s research interests include sediment transport and morphodynamics in fluvial and estuarine environments. He chaired the Geoscience Group to prepare the Trilateral Research Agenda and has been a member of the Trilateral Program Committee on Wadden Sea Research since its initiation in 2020.
Affiliations and expertise
University of Copenhagen Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, The Netherlands

PE

Peter Esselink

Dr. Peter Esslink is a researcher and consultant of land management at PUCCIMAR Ecological Research & Consultancy. He obtained in PhD in coastal salt marsh management at the University of Groningen. He assists in the preparation of Quality Status Reports on salt marshes of the Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Program for the Wadden Sea.
Affiliations and expertise
PUCCIMAR Ecological Research and Consultancy, The Netherlands.

KJ

Kai Jensen

Dr. Kai Jensen is Professor of Plant Ecology at the University of Hamburg. He studies salt marsh ecology and his current research examines the effects of warming on salt marshes of the Hamburger Hallig. Dr. Jensen is spokesperson for the DFG-funded Research Training Group 2530, which investigates the role of biotic interactions in carbon cycling in estuaries. Since 2012, he has chaired the expert group for salt marshes and dunes of the Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Program for the Wadden Sea.
Affiliations and expertise
University of Hamburg Biology Department, Germany.

SN

Stefanie Nolte

Dr. Stefanie Nolte is Lecturer in Marine Ecosystem Services at the University of East Anglia. She obtained her PhD in Plant Ecology from the University of Groningen and conducted post-doctoral research on coastal ecosystem services at the University of Hamburg. She established the Coastal Ecology Junior Research Group at the University of Hamburg and led the development of an ecosystem warming experiment. At the University of East Anglia, she continues her research on the effects of global change on biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and ecosystem services in coastal wetlands.
Affiliations and expertise
Lower Saxon Wadden Sea National Park Authority, Wilhelmshaven, Germany