Auswirkungen veränderter Überflutungsdynamik auf Polder und Salzgraslandvegetation der Vorpommerschen Boddenlandschaft De embankment salt marsh coastal brackish grassland sea level rise restoration vegetation succession strategy types space far time substitution zonation grazing vegetation classification biomass diversity Baltic Sea evaluation The focus of the study is on the restoration of brackish coastal grassland vegetation in the southern Baltic Sea by means of de embankment. Vegetation and biomass are sampled along an elevation gradient between 1997 and 1999. In 2000 a space for time substitution compares the restoration site to a polder and an undisturbed brackish grassland and the progress of succession is evaluated. The vegetation of brackish grasslands is classified. The impact of a rising sea level is estimated based on amplitudes of species groups relative to main site factors. The degree of vegetation change is positively related to inundation. The vegetation of the depressions experiences a complete die off whereas for the higher zones there is a continuous adaptation to salinity and inundation to be observed. At the landward border of brackish grasslands no directed change occurs even 7 years after de embankment. Cattle grazing preserves pioneer vegetation in the depressions while it facilitates the establishment of brackish grasslands beyond. Assessments of hemeroby and the composition of strategy types reveal that both naturalness and complexity increase with inundation. The restoration of coastal grasslands is favoured by an effective drainage. Three to four years after deembankment at the earliest brackish grasslands colonize the restoration site. Sea level rise results in a vertical and horizontal shift of vegetation zonation. Changes in species composition are expected to be insignificant.