Egmont Key, located at the mouth of Tampa Bay, is part of a dynamic system with many interrelated natural and anthropogenic factors influencing its morphodynamics. This study started in August 2012. During the 3-year period until August 2015, 28 beach profile transects were established and surveyed 10 times. Seventeen historical aerial images from 1942 to 2013 were geo-rectified and analyzed. Three hundred and fourteen sediment samples were procured from the navigation channel dredge area and the beach nourishment area and analyzed for grain size. A numerical wave model was established to simulate the nearshore wave field. The overall goals of this study are to understand the complex morphodynamics of Egmont Key and to evaluate the shore-protection efforts. The overall area of the Egmont Key has reduced 52% from 2.1 km2 in 1942 to 1.o km2 in 2002. The area loss was mostly caused by beach erosion along the Gulf-facing beach. The island-area reduction from 1942 to 2002 was largely linear. Two periods of accelerated area loss from 1978-1984 and 1999-2002 can be related to dredging of the Egmont Channel and the disposal of dredged materials along the channel. Concerning the relatively high mud content in the borrow area for the 2014 nourishment, a large amount of the fine sediment was lost at a temporal scale of hours to days during the dredging and beach nourishment construction processes. Some of the mud was deposited outside the surf zone at water depths of 2 m or greater. This mud became eroded naturally by energetic conditions at a temporal scale of months. Beach erosion and accretion along the Gulf-facing beach can be related qualitatively to tidal flow patterns. Numerical wave modeling shows that the transverse bars offshore Egmont Key have a moderate influence on the wave field, leading to slightly different wave heights along the shoreline. However, there is no clear relationship between the nearshore wave conditions and the erosion/accretion patterns. The severe shoreline erosion has exposed various fort structures at the shoreline and in the nearshore zone. These structures function as detached breakwaters or groins and have localized influence on the beach state.

Coastal counties make up only 17% of the land area in the continental United States, yet 53% of the nation’s population resides in these locations. With sea level rise, erosion, and human disturbances all effecting coastal areas, researchers are working to find strategies to protect and stabilize current and future shorelines. In order to maintain shoreline stability while maintaining intertidal habitat, multipurpose living shorelines have been developed to mimic natural shoreline assemblages while preventing erosion. This project determined the effectiveness of a living shoreline stabilization containing Crassostrea virginica (eastern oyster) and Spartina alterniflora (smooth cordgrass) in the field and through controlled wave tank experiments. First, fringing oyster reefs constructed of stabilized oyster shell and smooth cordgrass plugs were placed along three eroding shoreline areas (shell middens) within Canaveral National Seashore (CANA), New Smyrna Beach, FL. For each shell midden site, four treatments (bare shoreline control, oyster shell only, S. alterniflora only, and oyster shell + S. alterniflora) were tested in replicate 3.5 x 3.5 meter areas in the lower and middle intertidal zones. Each treatment was replicated five times at each site; erosion stakes within each replicate allowed measurement of changes in sedimentation. After one year in the field, the living shoreline treatments that contained oyster shells (oyster shell only and oyster shell + S. alterniflora) vertically accreted on average 4.9 cm of sediment at two of the sites, and an average of 2.9 cm of sediment at the third, while the controls lost an average of 0.5 cm of sediment. S. alterniflora did not significantly contribute to the accretion at any site due to seagrass wrack covering and killing plants within one month of deployment. Next, the reduction in wave energy caused by these living shoreline stabilization techniques relative to bare sediment (control) was quantified. The energy reduction immediately after deployment, and the change in energy reduction when S. alterniflora had been allowed to grow for one year, and the stabilized shell was able to recruit oysters for one year was tested. Laboratory experiments were conducted in a nine-meter long wave tank using capacitance wave gauges to ultimately measure changes in wave height before and after treatments. Wave energy was calculated for each newly deployed and one-year old shoreline stabilization treatment. Boat wake characteristics from CANA shorelines were measured in the field and used as inputs to drive the physical modeling. Likewise, in the wave tank, the topography adjacent to the shell midden sites was measured and replicated. Oyster shell plus S. alterniflora attenuated significantly more wave energy than either the shells or plants alone. Also, one-year old treatments attenuated significantly more energy than the newly deployed treatments. The combination of one-year old S. alterniflora plus live oysters reduced 67% of the wave energy. With the information gathered from both the field and wave experiments, CANA chose to utilize living shorelines to stabilize three shell middens within the park. Oyster shell, marsh grass and two types of mangroves (Rhizophora mangle, Avicennia germinans) were deployed on the intertidal zones of the eroding middens. Significant accretion occurred at all middens. Two sites (Castle Windy and Garver Island) vertically accreted an average 2.3 cm of sediment after nine months, and six months respectively, and the other site (Hong Kong) received on average 1.6 cm of sediment after six months. All control areas (no stabilization) experienced sediment loss, with erosion up to 5.01 cm at Hong Kong. Plant survival was low ( < 20%) at Castle Windy and Garver Island, while Hong Kong had moderate survival (48-65%). Of the surviving marsh iv grass and mangroves on the three sites, almost all ( > 85%) had documented growth in the form of increased height or the production on new shoots. Landowners facing shoreline erosion issues, including park managers at CANA, can use this information in the future to create effective shoreline stabilization protocols. Even though the techniques will vary from location to location, the overall goal of wave attenuation while maintaining shoreline habitat remains. As the research associated with the effectiveness of living shorelines increases, we hope to see more landowners and land managers utilize this form of soft stabilization to armor shorelines.

Population living along the coast are at risk of losing land, households, and economic resources due to the hazards of coastal erosion. Scientific research has indicated that 70% of the planet's sandy coastal environment is being impacted by coastal erosion. Due to the different characteristics of the lands in the coastal zone versus other areas, it is important to understand how the hazard of shoreline erosion contributes to subsequent land use change in affected coastal regions. This study analyzes how the level of erosion, land loss, and developed land loss performs when added with the default land use change parameters such as existing developed land proximity, proximity to forested areas, population, transportation, etc. Sample points of 1020 from 10 years and 15 years of shoreline erosion data for the lower Meghna River estuary of Southeast Bangladesh have been obtained and from there, different erosion statistics have been developed. Developed land use data has been collected from ESA's World Settlement Footprint dataset and other datasets are also collected from secondary data sources. Logistic regression modeling shows that there are verified contributions of proximity to erosion and amount of land loss with the probability of developed land use conversion in the study area. Adding the variables of environmental hazards increases the prediction accuracy by 2-3% and overall, the models are at least 85% accurate. / Master of Science / Population living along the coast are at risk of losing land, households, and economic resources due to the hazards of coastal erosion. The coast of the Lower Meghna estuary in Bangladesh is a region experiencing chronic and severe shoreline erosion that causes the land to be lost to estuarine waters. This research quantifies the amount of land lost to erosion with a special focus on the amount of developed land that is lost. Developed land in this study is defined as a built-up area typically composed of buildings and roads. The research also evaluates the effects of lost land on the subsequent conversion of interior land from a non-developed to developed status. The main contribution is to quantitatively identify the association between the erosion-induced land loss to future land use conversion. Using statistical modeling and digital mapping methods, results show that loss of land is associated with the subsequent conversion of non-developed land to developed land use. In particular, conversion has a higher probability at sites that are located more distant from the eroding shoreline that also are proximal to shoreline sites with higher rates of erosion-induced land loss. These results are suggestive of a relocation process where previously lost developed land is reestablished at interior sites within five kilometers of the eroding shoreline.

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