Ming Li Kenneth Rose Tori Tomiczek James Morris Cindy M Palinkas Lorie Staver William Nardin Matthew J. Gray Serena Lee Ariana Eileen Sutton-Grier Amy Hruska Matthew Reidenbach 2026 <p><span>Built infrastructure, such as seawalls and levees, has long been used to reduce shoreline erosion and protect coastal properties from flood impacts. In contrast, natural and nature-based features (NNBF), including marshes, mangroves, oyster reefs, coral reefs, and seagrasses, offer not only coastal protection but also a range of valuable ecosystem services. There is no clear understanding of the capacity of either natural habitats or NNBF integrated with traditional engineered infrastructure to withstand extreme events, nor are there well-defined breakpoints at which these habitats fail to provide coastal protection. Evaluating existing NNBF strategies using a standardized set of metrics can help to assess their effectiveness to better inform design criteria. This review identifies a selection of NNBF projects with long-term monitoring programs and synthesizes the monitoring data to provide a literature-based performance assessment. It also explores the integration of NNBF with existing gray infrastructure to enhance overall effectiveness.</span></p> application/pdf 10.1146/annurev-marine-040423-023251 en Annual Reviews Performance evaluation of natural and nature-based features for coastal protection and co-benefits article