Journal article
Drainage Influences Coastal Salt Marsh Productivity and Soil Biogeochemistry
Aquatic botany, v 193, 103772
Jul 2024
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Coastal wetlands display ecohydrological zonation such that horizontal differences in plant zones are driven by soil aeration and varying groundwater levels. However, it is less clear how variable levels of drainage directly impact biotic and abiotic factors in coastal wetland ecosystems. To determine the impacts of drainage levels, simulated tides in mesocosms with varying degrees of drainage were created with Spartina alterniflora and Salicornia pacifica, the dominant coastal salt marsh plant species on the United States’ Atlantic and Pacific coasts respectively. We measured biomass production and photosynthesis as indicators of plant health, and we also measured soil and porewater characteristics to help interpret patterns of productivity. These measures included above and belowground biomass, porewater pH, salinity, ammonium concentration, sulfide concentration, soil redox potential, net ecosystem exchange, photosynthesis rate, respiration rate, and methane flux. We found the greatest plant production in soils with intermediate drainage levels, with production values that were 13.7% higher for S. alterniflora and 57.7% higher for S. pacifica. Understanding how drainage impacts plant species is important for predicting wetland resilience to sea level rise, as increasing water levels alter ecohydrological zonation.
•Coastal salt marshes can be influenced by the level of soil drainage.•Species type can modulate the impacts of variable drainage.•Drainage and species type interact to impact the biotic and abiotic factors.•Intermediate drainage levels had the highest plant productivity for both species.
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Details
- Title
- Drainage Influences Coastal Salt Marsh Productivity and Soil Biogeochemistry
- Creators
- Kylie Cherneskie - Department of Biodiversity, Earth and Environmental Science, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA,USADaouda Njie - Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USALena Champlin - Drexel UniversityDarci Swenson Perger - Stony Brook UniversityElizabeth Watson - Stony Brook University
- Publication Details
- Aquatic botany, v 193, 103772
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001222334900001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85189792288
- Other Identifier
- 991021866483304721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Marine & Freshwater Biology
- Plant Sciences