Effects of nitrogen addition and salt grass (Distichlis spicata) upon high salt marsh vegetation in Northern California, USA

Traut, Bibit Halliday

doi:10.1007/bf02732862

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…5, left, third panel). These responses were similar to reports from elsewhere (Traut 2005). There was no evident net long-term effect of fertilization on cover of S. patens (Fig.…”

Section: Shifts In Species Coversupporting

confidence: 92%

Vegetation Cover and Elevation in Long-Term Experimental Nutrient-Enrichment Plots in Great Sippewissett Salt Marsh, Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Implications for Eutrophication and Sea Level rise

Fox

Valiela

Kinney

2012

Estuaries and Coasts

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Nitrogen inputs restructure ecosystems and can interact with other agents of ecological change and potentially intensify them. To examine the effects of nitrogen combined with those of elevation and competition, in 2005 we mapped vegetation and elevation within experimental plots that have been fertilized since 1970 in Great Sippewissett salt marsh, Cape Cod, MA, USA and compared the resulting effects on marsh vegetation. Decadal-scale chronic nutrient enrichment forced changes in cover and spatial distribution of different species. With increasing enrichment, there was a shift in species cover primarily involving loss of Spartina alterniflora and an increase in Distichlis spicata. Percent cover of near monocultures increased with nitrogen fertilization, owing mainly to the proliferation of D. spicata. The experimental fertilization prompted a shift from the short form of S. alterniflora to taller forms, hence increasing above-ground biomass, where this species managed to remain. Chronic enrichment increased upper and lower limits of the elevation range within which certain species occurred. The shift to increased cover of D. spicata was also associated with faster accretion of the marsh surface where this species was dominant, but not where S. alterniflora was dominant. Interactions among nutrient supply, elevation, and competition altered the direction of competitive success among different species of marsh plants, and forced changes in the spatial distribution and composition of the salt marsh plant communities. The results imply that there will be parallel changes in New England salt marshes owing to the widespread eutrophication of coastal waters and the increasing sea level rise. Knowing the mechanisms structuring marsh vegetative cover, and their role in modification of salt marsh accretion, may provide background with which to manage maintenance of affected coastal wetlands.

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“…5, left, third panel). These responses were similar to reports from elsewhere (Traut 2005). There was no evident net long-term effect of fertilization on cover of S. patens (Fig.…”

Section: Shifts In Species Coversupporting

confidence: 92%

Vegetation Cover and Elevation in Long-Term Experimental Nutrient-Enrichment Plots in Great Sippewissett Salt Marsh, Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Implications for Eutrophication and Sea Level rise

Fox

Valiela

Kinney

2012

Estuaries and Coasts

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“…This study was conducted in the high marsh, which has clay loam soils that inundate during high spring tides and become saturated through percolation during high neap tides. The tides are mixed semidiurnal with a maximum tidal range of about 2.5 m. The high marsh has greater plant species richness than the mid marsh and includes the native species Salicornia virginica, Distichlis spicata, Grindelia stricta, Jaumea carnosa, Limonium californicum, and Triglochin concinna (Traut 2005). The site receives approximately 3.3 kg N ha À1 yr À1 via atmospheric deposition (Tonnesen et al 2007) and 5 kg N ha À1 yr À1 from cattle grazing within the Tomales Bay watershed (Freifelder et al 1998).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Microbially mediated nitrogen retention and loss in a salt marsh soil

2015

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Abstract. Salt marshes currently play an important role as filters for upslope nitrogen (N) inputs. This could change in the future with sea level rise, warming and eutrophication, which are expected to favor monocultures over diverse plant communities. We explored patterns in gross N cycling, dissimilatory nitrate (NO 3 À ) reduction to ammonium (NH 4 þ ) (DNRA), and denitrification in a salt marsh soil under two typical redox conditions (aerobic and anaerobic), and in soils under plant communities manipulated to simulate potential future composition (forb and graminoid monocultures). Natural salt marsh soils exhibited high potential gross N mineralization rates, averaging 50.4 6 5.7 lg N g À1 d À1 under aerobic conditions; rates declined to 23.6 6 3.4 lg N g À1 d À1 under an N 2 headspace. Microbial NH 4 þ uptake and gross nitrification together accounted for only 14 % of gross N mineralization. Nitrogen retention via DNRA and microbial uptake greatly exceeded N losses via denitrification. Gross nitrification rates were greater in the forb and graminoid monocultures than in the control. This effect may be mediated by the lower plant biomass in the monocultures than in the control, which may have reduced competition between plants and nitrifiers for NH 4 þ . Soil NO 3 À concentrations and net nitrous oxide (N 2 O) fluxes were greatest for the forb monoculture, likely due to higher soil oxygen (O 2 ) concentrations in these plots. Our results suggest that salt marsh soils with a diverse plant community have high potential rates of N mineralization and microbial N retention, and the establishment of forb monocultures could lead to greater ecosystem N losses.

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“…Although other changes (such as form and concentration of dissolved nutrients, grazing stress, and adjacent land use change) are also occurring, such shifts vary from site to site, and are not regularly monitored. Furthermore, nutrient addition was found to produce no measurable effects in the competitive advantage for specific species or for species diversity in other Central Californian marshes (Traut 2003(Traut , 2005, and therefore, the results of such changes are probably subtle.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, tidal marshes have long been treated as natural laboratories by ecologists, and many studies have related tidal marsh plant distributions to environmental gradients, such as elevation (Hinde 1954;Traut 2005), hydrology (Sanderson et al 2000;Zedler et al 1999), and salinity (Callaway et al 1990;Culberson 2001). Although the stated goal of this study was primarily to define the distribution of wetland plants along the environmental gradients found in San Francisco Estuary tidal wetlands in order to constrain how future environmental change may affect plant distributions, this study provided a number of key insights in regard to tidal marsh plant distributions that may be applicable to the study of other tidal wetlands.…”

Section: Tidal Marsh Plant Distributionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Abundance and diversity of tidal marsh plants along the salinity gradient of the San Francisco Estuary: implications for global change ecology

Watson

Byrne

2009

Plant Ecol

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From 2003 through 2005, tidal marsh plant species diversity and abundance on historically surveyed vegetation transects along the salinity gradient of the San Francisco Estuary were investigated to establish empirical relationships between plant distributions and environmental conditions, and furthermore to examine and predict past and future plant distribution changes. This study suggests that for most species, salinity is the primary control on plant distribution. Thus, ongoing changes in estuarine conditions (increasing sea level and salinity) are resulting in a complex mix of plant distribution changes. On the low marsh, where sediment salinity is similar to that of ambient water, halophytic species are replacing salt-intolerant taxa. However, on marsh plains, where increased tidal flooding is moderating high salinity (concentrated by evaporation), halophytic ''high marsh'' species are being replaced by salt-intolerant ''low marsh'' taxa. Thus, future changes in plant distributions will hinge on whether marsh sediment accumulation keeps pace with sea level rise.

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Effects of nitrogen addition and salt grass (Distichlis spicata) upon high salt marsh vegetation in Northern California, USA

Cited by 13 publications

References 64 publications

Vegetation Cover and Elevation in Long-Term Experimental Nutrient-Enrichment Plots in Great Sippewissett Salt Marsh, Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Implications for Eutrophication and Sea Level rise

Vegetation Cover and Elevation in Long-Term Experimental Nutrient-Enrichment Plots in Great Sippewissett Salt Marsh, Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Implications for Eutrophication and Sea Level rise

Microbially mediated nitrogen retention and loss in a salt marsh soil

Abundance and diversity of tidal marsh plants along the salinity gradient of the San Francisco Estuary: implications for global change ecology

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