Bistability and the future of barrier islands

Access through your institution Buy or subscribe To the Editor — Writing in _Nature Climate Change_, Dúran Vinent and Moore1 suggest that barrier islands are intrinsically bistable, existing

in one of two equilibrium states, and that the state can be used to predict island response to climate change. Bistability exists when any system can exist in two distinct states of

equilibrium2. Applied to barrier islands, Dúran Vinent and Moore claim that extrinsic variable changes (that is, reduced sediment supply) alter system parameters (dune-building) and can push

entire islands across a threshold from one equilibrium state to an alternate equilibrium state, from high to low, for example. This results in fundamental changes to system properties and

affects island resilience. However, barrier islands do not function within a dichotomous framework of bistability where 'low' islands are simply an alternate equilibrium state.

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institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support REFERENCES * Dúran Vinent, O. & Moore, L. J. _Nature Clim. Change_ 5, 158–162 (2015). Article  Google Scholar  *

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INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Department of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1000 West Cary Street, Richmond, 23284, Virginia, USA Julie C Zinnert & Donald R Young *

Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, 3988 Jones Center Drive, Newton, 39870, Georgia, USA Steven T Brantley Authors * Julie C Zinnert View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Steven T Brantley View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Donald R Young View author publications You can

also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Julie C Zinnert. RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS

ARTICLE Zinnert, J., Brantley, S. & Young, D. Bistability and the future of barrier islands. _Nature Clim Change_ 6, 5–6 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2802 Download citation *

Published: 23 December 2015 * Issue Date: January 2016 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2802 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this

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