Exploring the Use of Living Shorelines for Stabilization and Nutrient Mitigation in New England.

As salt marsh habitats face challenges due to sea level rise, storm events, and coastal development, there is an effort to use nature-based approaches such as living shorelines to enhance salt marshes and provide coastal protection. A living shoreline restoration and seasonal monitoring was conducted between July 2016 and October 2018 at an eroding salt marsh on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Northeastern USA to assess changes in two essential ecosystem services: shoreline stabilization and nitrogen removal. Neither the living shoreline nor unaltered sites demonstrated significant sediment deposition at the marsh edge or on the marsh platform between 2017 and 2018.

Species-specific crab predation on the hydrozoan clinging jellyfish sp. (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa), subsequent crab mortality, and possible ecological consequences.

Here we report a unique trophic interaction between the cryptogenic and sometimes highly toxic hydrozoan clinging jellyfish sp. and the spider crab . We assessed species-specific predation on the medusae by crabs found in eelgrass meadows in Massachusetts, USA.