Reefense: Living shoreline mosaics can achieve ecological and engineering outcomes with interdisciplinary design
- Rebecca L. Morris
- Jaden E. Akers
- Sandra Casas
- Justin Geldard
- Alex Goad
- Marco Ghisalberti
- Ximing Guo
- Reid Holland
- Hongyue Jin
- Kelly M. Kibler
- Danielle Kreeger
- Brendan S. Lanham
- Jerome F. La Peyre
- Ryan J. Lowe
- Cynthia E. M. Lupton
- Hani Nassif
- William Mather
- Andrew W. M. Pomeroy
- Ella Rothermel
- Michael Ruszala
- Madhuwanthi Rupasinghe
- F. Scott Rikard
- Richard E. Riman
- Rackel San Nicolas
- Jenny P. Shinn
- Prashansa Shrestha
- Eric L. Sparks
- Stephen E. Swearer
- Jyotismita Taye
- Nigel A. Temple
- Manisha N. Thenuwara
- Peter B. Vien
- Zhenwei Wang
- Mason L. Williams
- David Bushek
2026-04-03
Living shorelines that comprise oyster reefs within a mosaic of multiple coastal habitats can be a resilient and adaptive coastal protection alternative to conventional engineered structures. The success of an oyster reef living shoreline depends on the evolution of a stable base substrate that provides initial short-term coastal protection, to the growth of a living oyster reef and associated habitats in the longer-term, which can enhance protection and provide other ecosystem services. Interdisciplinary global teams that include ecologists, biologists, engineers, techno-economists, and industry are leading the development and implementation of innovative reef-based coastal protection (“Reefense”) solutions that can be scaled to face the challenges of climate change.