Saltmarshes are sumps for anthropogenic pollutants that lie at the interface between land and sea. They are important habitats particularly for overwintering birds and specialised salt-tolerant plants. While listed under the Habitats Directive, as habitats whose conservation requires SAC designation, the potential for anthropogenic alteration of the marshes will always exist. The inherent resilience to stressors and their capacity to absorb anthropogenic impacts have been strained and will now be further challenged with climate change and expected sea level rise. While the capacity for saltmarshes to adapt to sea level rise will largely be dependent on the possibility for this habitat to extend further into the terrestrial ecosystem saltmarshes must first survive the increasing and cumulative onslaught of contaminants and nutrients entering the systems. Exploring the negative anthropogenic activities acting on saltmarsh habitats this project with the aid of mobile platforms will assess and monitor the community to see how they are impacting the health of saltmarshes. Evaluating the cumulative anthropogenic impacts will increase the understanding of how anthropogenic activities are interfering with the natural processes of the marsh and allow for the exploration for mitigation and/or restoration of saltmarshes to inform policy makers and the EU Water Framework Directive.
