Applying tidal landform scaling to habitat restoration planning, design, and monitoring

Tidal channels are structurally and functionally prominent features in tidal marshes, so their restoration is central to marsh restoration. Prominent design questions in tidal marsh restoration include: How many tidal channels can a restoration site support, and thus, how many dike breaches should be made to restore tidal inundation and tidal channels? How much total channel surface area will be supported by a restored marsh, and thus, how many fish, shrimp, or other organisms can be supported by restored channel habitat? These basic design questions can be addressed by landscape allometry, which describes the proportional relative rates of change in a system between two entities of particular interest-in the case of marsh restoration, between the amount of marsh area to be restored and a wide variety of measures of tidal channel network geometry. This paper briefly reviews the development of landscape allometry, insights that it provides into landforms and related ecological patterns, and its utility and application to marsh restoration planning, design and monitoring. Its practical application is illustrated in a conceptual restoration design that is the basis for a current restoration project.