Abstract:

Woody mangrove expansion into grassy marsh areas is influenced by climatic, ecological, and social drivers, though achieving an understanding of social processes in this context has been neglected. The goal of our survey was to identify social drivers of and constraints upon mangrove expansion in the United States Gulf of Mexico (GOM). We deployed a survey instrument from fall 2021 to fall 2022 and targeted waterfront property owners because of their direct coastal access and capacity to impact shoreline composition. Four study sites in the northern GOM were targeted: on the eastern Gulf, Cedar Key / Homosassa, and Panama City Beach, Florida; and on the western Gulf, Galveston and Corpus Christi, Texas. Cedar Key and Homosassa, Florida were combined to achieve a similar sample size of waterfront homeowners as in other study areas. A stratified sample of 3200 residential waterfront addresses (800 addresses from each of the four study sites) was selected using county public property records. Residents were targeted using a mixed-mode survey in three mailings, and we achieved an adjusted response rate of 20.9% (n = 530 responses). Survey items measured coastal behaviors and attitudes, mangrove local ecological knowledge and perceptions, shoreline characteristics, fishing behaviors, and demographics.