This video will help students learn about the important services provided by coastal salt marshes and how they are being threatened. The salt marsh is a critical intertidal ecosystem, supporting fisheries, fighting erosion and storm surge, and cleaning the water. It is also a habitat that we are losing. Dr. Randall Hughes investigates what makes a stronger salt marsh, one resistant to drought and other disturbances. She's looking at whether biodiversity- both the number of different plants in the marsh and the number of different genetic individuals of the dominant marsh species- helps make a marsh more resistant to change.