Reciprocal Resilience in Coastal Conservation
Marine Conservation Lab, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
Global coastlines are among the first areas to bear the brunt of climate change. Paying close attention to their eco-social networks reinvigorates these regions and forms a blueprint for protecting the whole world.
A Mutual Motive
At the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, the Marine Conservation Lab emphasizes a collaborative and inclusive approach for coastal conservation. We particularly focus on the Mesoamerican Reef (MAR) Ecoregion of Latin America, a biodiversity hotspot home to productive wetland ecosystems and diverse cultures. However, this region is underrepresented in coastal research.
México, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras within the MAR ecoregion
A Coastal Cornerstone
Ensnarled root systems of mangrove trees are extremely complex, just like their interconnected coastal environmental networks.
Mangroves, a type of forested intertidal wetland, are one of the prominent ecosystems of the MAR. Understanding health, cultural significance, utility, and management of these forests is a key component of supporting this region and its communities.
However, mangroves are under threat globally and within MAR, threatened by climate change and coastal development.
MAR Restoration
Hannah Morrissette and Steve Canty of the Marine Conservation Lab join hands with the Foundation for Ecodevelopment and Conservation (FUNDAECO) and Centro de Estudios Marinos (CEM) in a regional effort to holistically evaluate how mangroves in Guatemala and Honduras are responding to current restoration projects, following their Regional Mangrove Strategy . The goal is to integrate and build capacity within the region to effectively and independently carry out these strategies.
Seeing progress in action: the MAR Restoration project involves comparing stable, healthy mangroves to ones being restored, to see how these projects bring them back to vitality.
In this picture: The MAR restoration project partners.
Another key focus is finding out how much blue carbon is stored above and below the ground in these sites.
Making methods accessible: monitoring sites using rapid assessment techniques. A small team can assess health of the entire ecosystem and upload their data for immediate assessments.
In this picture: Etlon Membreno, Carlos Gallo, Hannah Morrissette, Luis Jose Matute, Carlos Madril.
Sharing ecological knowledge and responsibility between scientists and stakeholders is central to this collaboration.
In this picture: Kevin Novelo, Guillermo Galvez, Justo Rodriguez, Darwin Ponce, Andrea Ramirez, Hannah Morrissette.
MAR Restoration works to ensure communities have what they need to lead conservation efforts. The team ensures continuous monitoring of 5 hectors of mangrove forest.
Ongoing Co-Benefits Projects
Understanding Change in the Mangroves of the MAR
Geospatial tools are key for conserving mangroves.
Suvarna Punalekar uses satellite images and machine learning algorithms to map the extent and condition of mangroves in the MAR ecoregion. Satellite data collected over the years can help identify areas where mangroves were lost, degraded, and in some cases, restored or naturally spreading. The focus of her research is to develop a method to map these different types of changes consistently over time.
Once we can map how mangroves have changed over the decades, we can investigate the drivers of those changes through socioeconomic data and models. This can be shared with protected area managers and communities in MAR to prioritize their restoration efforts.
Building a mangrove ecosystem monitoring tool for managers using Sentinel-2 imagery in Google Earth Engine
Moving further afield from the MAR, Susan Kotikot has worked on mapping mangrove cover in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and the British Virgin Islands. Susan's team assessed recent (2020-2022) mangrove cover change, distinguishing between intact and degraded ecosystems. Building on existing regional mapping efforts, the resulting high-resolution visualizations reveal details in previously overlooked areas. This helped them find a continuous decline in mangroves within most of the region, likely associated with hurricane damage.
Here in Northern Puerto Rico, mangrove cover from 2022 was diminished compared to two years prior. Exposed yellow areas show where mangroves were previously present. Pan and scroll through the map to explore other areas in the region and see how the mangroves have changed.
Susan has built a tool in Google Earth Engine to make the developed maps accessible for all stakeholders including mangrove ecosystem managers and local communities.
Working Towards Balance
The local and collaborative conservation efforts in the MAR and Caribbean demonstrate these nations' commitments to protect their coasts. Continuing to work with communities, decision-makers, and data scientists can holistically strengthen the region's capacity to manage these areas.
The international MAR Restoration team measuring trees, sediments and water across mangrove forests. Pictured: top left: Diego Carias, Riky Ellis (Honduras), top middle: Darwin Ponce (Guatemala), top right: Vicky Chavez (Honduras), bottom left: Sandra Cardenas, Carlos Gallo, Luis Jose Matute (Honduras), bottom middle: Amrit Cuellar, Rigoberto Diaz, Carlos Gallo, Diego Carias, Sandra Cardenas, Etlon Membreno, Luis Jose Matute, Carlos Madril, Hannah Morrissette, Javier Cubas (Honduras), bottom right: Ramon, Samuel (Guatemala).
