Newswise — William K. Smith, professor and Charles H. Babcock Chair of Botany at Wake Forest University, leads the Coastal Barrier Island Network (CBIN), an international group of scientists studying the effective management of barrier island ecosystems.
The National Science Foundation-funded study group is developing a strategic plan for sustaining barrier island ecosystems in the face of increases in storm frequency and intensity, as well as sea level rise associated with global climate change.
CBIN members represent a broad spectrum of research interests such as economics, human ecology, geology, ecology, anthropology and archaeology.
They are looking at the Gulf-area Chandeleur Islands as well as North Carolina's Bald Head Island and four other coastal sites in the South. "We are thinking of ways to coordinate human development with ecosystem sustainability," said Smith. "We are even getting into the more progressive ideas of how to use native vegetation for greater stabilization of these geologically dynamic island ecosystems."
The group brings together "knowledge of geology, hydrology, ecology, and economics into a unified management plan for preserving what appears to be highly vulnerable ecosystems that also play a vital role in the preservation of coastal landscapes worldwide," Smith said. CBIN will have its first organizational meeting for planning the five-year project in Galveston, Texas, from Jan. 3-7, 2009. The group will also survey the extensive damage due to Hurricane Ike on the local barrier islands.
Smith studies the adaptations of plants to extreme environments such as deserts, alpine forests and coastal barrier islands.
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