Dramatic losses of wetlands in New York City’s Jamaica Bay, as well as threats to salt marsh and coastal wetland habitats elsewhere on Long Island, are being investigated by researchers supported by New York Sea Grant.

Of special interest is Jamaica Bay—a complex ecological system that provides important habitat for fish, wildlife, and plants and lies in the shadow of New York’s skyscrapers. On some of its marshes, grasses waving in the wind and abundant wildlife looking for food have been replaced with barren, eroded landscape.

The marshes are in the middle of an active bay where waves constantly wash away sediment and redeposit it. Sea Grant researcher Steven Goodbred, graduate student Alex Kolker, and colleagues from the Marine Sciences Research Center at Stony Brook University studied Big Egg Marsh to determine whether marsh loss in the last 30 years is related to changes in sedimentation rates. They found that despite an increase in sedimentation rates in Big Egg Marsh over three decades, it appears to be losing ground—suggesting that marsh loss in Jamaica Bay and across Long Island is controlled by complex dynamics, which may not be directly linked to the accumulation of sediment at all. Other factors the researchers are looking at are changes in storm frequency, sea level change, and human disturbances to the adjacent estuaries and uplands. Examining these factors will help to characterize each wetland, determine potential responses to future environmental change, aid Jamaica Bay restoration efforts, and mitigate marsh losses elsewhere on Long Island.

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