Top ten priorities for global saltmarsh restoration, conservation and ecosystem service research.

Coastal saltmarshes provide globally important ecosystem services including 'blue carbon' sequestration, flood protection, pollutant remediation, habitat provision and cultural value. Large portions of marshes have been lost or fragmented as a result of land reclamation, embankment construction, and pollution. Sea level rise threatens marsh survival by blocking landward migration where coastlines have been developed. Research-informed saltmarsh conservation and restoration efforts are helping to prevent further loss, yet significant knowledge gaps remain. Using a mixed methods approach, this paper identifies ten research priorities through an online questionnaire and a residential workshop attended by an international, multi-disciplinary network of 35 saltmarsh experts spanning natural, physical and social sciences across research, policy, and practitioner sectors. Priorities have been grouped under four thematic areas of research: Saltmarsh Area Extent, Change and Restoration Potential (including past, present, global variation), Spatio-social contexts of Ecosystem Service delivery (e.g. influences of environmental context, climate change, and stakeholder groups on service provisioning), Patterns and Processes in saltmarsh functioning (global drivers of saltmarsh ecosystem structure/function) and Management and Policy Needs (how management varies contextually; challenges/opportunities for management). Although not intended to be exhaustive, the challenges, opportunities, and strategies for addressing each research priority examined here, providing a blueprint of the work that needs to be done to protect saltmarshes for future generations.

Building blocks for cyclotriveratrylene-based coordination networks.

The incorporation of three-fold symmetric organic host molecules into coordination polymers should allow for the construction of new and interesting network structures, capable of multiple inclusion behaviour. A range of new multi-dentate bridging ligands/molecular hosts have been prepared by appending nitrogen-containing heterocycles to either cyclotricatechylene, or cyclotriguaiacylene cores. These compounds were obtained in a single-step reaction from readily available precursors, with moderate to good yields, and characterised by a combination of NMR spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. Two of the new compounds were characterised by X-ray crystallography, revealing different modes of self inclusion behaviour, which indicate the potential importance of [small pi]-donor stabilisation by CTV derivatives in host-guest chemistry.