The RESIST Project: Coastal Salt Marshes
RESIST(UK) stands for ‘Response of Ecologically-mediated Shallow Intertidal Shores and their Transitions to extreme hydrodynamic forcing in UK settings’.
RESIST is a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded project involving a team of internationally respected coastal scientists from the Cambridge Coastal Research Unit, University of Cambridge, Queen Mary University of London, University of Cumbria, Trinity College Dublin and the British Geological Survey. Its unique multi-disciplinary approach combines insights into the ecology, biogeochemistry, geomorphology, sedimentology and ecosystem services provided by salt marshes.
The project aims to:
- Understand how soil type and biology affect the resistance of exposed salt marsh areas
to the eroding forces of waves and tides and
- Develop methods for mapping such resistance and its variability across space to allow
prediction of marsh loss in different areas of the marsh, for any given set of sea level,
wave and tide conditions.
Ultimately, the project’s vision is to provide the foundations for a ‘Physical Vulnerability Index’ for salt marshes. This index will allow those responsible for the conservation of marshes and their flood and erosion risk reduction function to map and monitor how likely they are to degrade under increasing physical stress from waves, tides, and storms. Armed with this information, we can be better prepared for the next big coastal storm surge and reduce its impact on people, property, and infrastructure.
The PowerPoint and associated student resources available to download are designed to complement the GCSE and/or A-Level curriculum in Geography regarding coastal landscapes and processes; with reference to biodiversity, changing weather and climate, and implementing fieldwork techniques, data analysis and enquiry.
The resources are intended to be used:
- To support student understanding of salt marshes, and
- As a project spanning several lessons, with differentiation for different ability students.
If you find these resources useful and could provide feedback on how you have been able to use them, or if you would like to provide suggestions for future edits to these resources, please email us
