Multiple Representations of Topographic Pattern and Geographic Context Determine Barrier Dune Resistance, Resilience, and the Overlap of Coastal Biogeomorphic Models

Li Chih Hsu, J. Anthony Stallins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

We compared two biogeomorphic models that postulate how vegetation is intertwined in the response and recovery of barrier island dunes. Each model was developed in a separate coastal region using different methods. Both relied on simple elevational representations of topography. By comparing topographies among more islands of these two regions and by linking multiple representations of topographic pattern to resistance and resilience, we provide a synthesis that shows the validity of both models and the consequences of reifying one over the other. Using airborne LiDAR, topographic metrics based on point, patch, and gradient representations of topography were derived for fifty-two sites across eleven islands along the Georgia Bight and Virginia. These seventeen metrics were categorized in terms of resistance and resilience to disturbance from storm-forced high water levels and overwash. Resistance refers to intrinsic properties that directly counter expressions of power from disturbance. Resilience refers to the degrees of freedom to adjust and adapt to disturbance. Using a cross-scale data modeling approach, these data were visualized as topographic state space using multidimensional scaling. In this state space, similarity in topography as well as resistance and resilience were inferred through a site’s position along low-dimension axes representing geomorphic resistance and high-dimension axes representing the spatial landscape properties of biogeomorphic resilience. The two models overlap in how they account for barrier dune resistance and resilience along the U.S. south Atlantic coast. Islands of the Georgia Bight have a propensity for higher resistance and resilience. The Virginia islands have lower resistance and resilience. Key Words: barrier islands, biogeomorphology, cross-scale structure, dunes, resilience.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)640-660
Number of pages21
JournalAnnals of the American Association of Geographers
Volume110
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 3 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 by American Association of Geographers.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • Earth-Surface Processes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Multiple Representations of Topographic Pattern and Geographic Context Determine Barrier Dune Resistance, Resilience, and the Overlap of Coastal Biogeomorphic Models'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this