Editing Salt marsh (section)

{{Short description|Coastal ecosystem between land and open saltwater that is regularly flooded}}
{{About||inland salt marshes uninfluenced by seawater and tides|Inland salt marsh|the surname|Saltmarsh (surname)|Gandhi's march|Salt March}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}}
[[File:Salt pannes and pools high and low tide.gif|thumb|340px|Salt marsh during [[low tide]], mean low tide, [[high tide]] and very high tide ([[spring tide]]).]]
[[File:Hagens Cove.jpg|thumb|A coastal salt marsh in [[Perry, Florida]], USA.]]
A '''salt marsh''', '''saltmarsh''' or '''salting''', also known as a coastal salt marsh or a [[tidal marsh]], is a coastal ecosystem in the upper [[coast]]al [[intertidal zone]] between land and open [[Seawater|saltwater]] or [[brackish water]] that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated by dense stands of [[halophyte|salt-tolerant]] plants such as [[herb]]s, [[Poaceae|grasses]], or low [[shrub]]s.<ref name="adam">{{Cite book |last=Adam |first=Paul |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/20217629 |title=Saltmarsh Ecology |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1990 |isbn=0-521-24508-7 |location=New York |oclc=20217629}}</ref><ref name="woodroffe">{{Cite book |last=Woodroffe |first=C. D. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48795910 |title=Coasts : form, process, and evolution |date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-81254-2 |location=New York |oclc=48795910}}</ref> These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt [[marsh]] in trapping and binding [[sediment]]s. Salt marshes play a large role in the aquatic [[food web]] and the delivery of nutrients to coastal waters. They also support terrestrial animals and provide [[coastal management|coastal protection]].<ref name="woodroffe"/>

Salt marshes have historically been endangered by poorly implemented [[coastal management]] practices, with land reclaimed for human uses or polluted by upstream agriculture or other industrial coastal uses.  Additionally, [[sea level rise]] caused by [[climate change]] is endangering other marshes, through [[Coastal erosion|erosion]] and submersion of otherwise tidal marshes.<ref name="SimasNUnesFerreira2001">{{cite journal |last1=Simas |first1=T |last2=Nunes |first2=J.P |last3=Ferreira |first3=J.G |title=Effects of global climate change on coastal salt marshes |journal=Ecological Modelling |date=March 2001 |volume=139 |issue=1 |pages=1–15 |doi=10.1016/S0304-3800(01)00226-5|bibcode=2001EcMod.139....1S }}</ref><ref name="EPA2023">{{cite web |last1=EPA |title=Climate Change in Coastal Environments |date=10 April 2014 |url=https://www.epa.gov/cre/climate-change-coastal-environments |access-date=30 October 2023}}</ref> However, recent acknowledgment by both environmentalists and larger society for the importance of saltwater marshes for biodiversity, [[Productivity (ecology)|ecological productivity]] and other [[ecosystem service]]s, such as [[carbon sequestration]], have led to an increase in salt marsh restoration and management since the 1980s.