For example, Doomstorm and Acosta Rodrigues are studying how fiddler crabs are impacting coastal ecosystems The students are participating in the project through the NSF-funded RAMP program () called Coastal Connections.
Stephanie V. Tsui, a PhD candidate at Northeastern University, created a game called Salt Marshes for Humanity, in order to learn about the different ways stakeholders engage with and value a salt marsh ecosystem, she said. In researching the game, Tsui studied how a persons upbringing could influence how they perceive human-nature relationships. The players take the roles of key marsh stakeholders such as commercial fisherman, birding enthusiast, wetlands scientist, and coastal homeowner, and must work together to build a successful management plan for the marsh.
The player that accumulates the most points related to their stakeholder's end-of-game goals wins. Some people are not happy at the end of the game, but thats predictable, said Tsui.
Estuaries such as at Plum Island are among the most productive ecosystems on Earth. Their location at the land-sea interface, where inputs from river runoff mix with ocean tides, contributes to a broad diversity of primary producers and some of the most productive fisheries in the world.
But these vital ecosystems are increasingly threatened by both natural phenomena, like climate variability and sea level rise, and human actions from nitrogen pollution, sediment erosion, and overfishing, said Giblin.