By Megan Sam
A five-year, $7 million project funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is launching in St. Augustine with an ambitious goal: to strengthen shoreline resilience and restore degraded wetlands and dunes using nature-based solutions — approaches that harness natural processes to deliver environmental, social and economic benefits. Led by Andrew Altieri, Ph.D., interim director of the UF Center for Coastal Solutions, the project brings together a cross-disciplinary team of scientists and engineers to study how coastal landscapes are changing and to develop strategies to slow, stop or reverse these changes.
The research centers on vital coastal systems — wetlands like salt marshes and mangroves, along with beaches and dunes — that act as natural buffers or “shock absorbers,” protecting St. Augustine’s developed areas from coastal hazards. As development continues to grow along the coastline, even small changes in beach width or dune height can put critical infrastructure at risk. Over time, these protective systems have been steadily degrading, and as Altieri warns, they may disappear altogether without intervention.
“The stakes are high, making it essential to understand both the pace and direction of change,” said Altieri, an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences. “Getting this right — and acting now — is important because the coastline is already changing; this isn’t a future problem, it’s happening today.”
Two major factors driven by sea-level changes are contributing to marsh loss: edge erosion, where the edge of the marsh recedes inland, and interior habitat loss, where vegetation within the marsh dies off, leading land surface elevation to sink.
“The plants are really important for trapping sediment and holding sediment,” said Altieri. “You lose some of the plants, then you get more erosional loss and a lack of the accumulation of sediment.”
To help reverse this trend, the team is testing thin-layer placement, a method that involves applying a shallow layer of sediment to raise marsh elevation and support plant recovery. In this study, they’re using dredged sediment, a byproduct of waterway maintenance. This approach dovetails with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ goal to beneficially reuse at least 70% of dredged material for ecosystem restoration by 2030.
On the beach side, researchers are studying how wave energy, sediment grain size and vegetation influence dune formation and stability.
Beyond advancing research, the project also serves as a dynamic training ground for the next generation of coastal scientists and engineers. Undergraduate and graduate students are deeply engaged — contributing to the research, building essential skills and using the project as the foundation for their theses and dissertations. They carry these experiences, skills and professional connections as they launch into impactful careers.
“A core part of this work is developing talent,” said Altieri. “This project will continue to serve as an engine for training students who are ready to enter and lead in the coastal resilience workforce.”
To launch the project, the UF team will travel to the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) in Vicksburg, Mississippi in July. There, they’ll work alongside ERDC scientists to identify priority research areas and begin developing actionable plans to guide the project’s success.
“Ultimately, we’re working toward a clearer understanding of how these systems are changing, what is driving those changes, and how we can respond effectively,” said Altieri. “What we learn here will lay the foundation for scaling up — leveraging funding and partnerships to implement full-scale solutions.”
Project information:
Project co-leads include experts from multiple departments across UF: Peter Adams, Department of Geological Sciences; Julie Bruck, Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Landscape Architecture and Planning; Maitane Olabarrieta, Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment (ESSIE); Alex Sheremet, ESSIE; Nina Stark, ESSIE; Ben Wilkinson, Geomatics Program, School of Forest Fisheries and Geomatics Sciences; and Xiao Yu, ESSIE. Together, they bring strengths in coastal dynamics, geospatial analysis, geotechnical engineering and landscape planning.
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Natural defenses: UF researchers use living infrastructure to protect Florida’s shores