Salt‐marsh processes: A Review

Vernberg, F. John

doi:10.1002/etc.5620121203

Cited by 109 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 152 publications

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“…The within-subestuary factor of local-scale shoreline type (beach, wetland, bulkhead, or riprap) was also included as a fixed effect due to significant patterns identified by the local-scale analysis. Wetlands and forested land within 100 m of shore, measured at the subestuary level, were included as predictors rather than whole-watershed wetland/forested land because natural land covers (e.g., forest and wetlands) close to the shoreline can buffer against runoff of nutrients and other pollutants (Vernberg 1993) and provide critical habitat (woody debris and intertidal wetland surfaces) for aquatic mobile estuarine fauna (Everett and Ruiz 1993;Bilkovic & Roggero 2008). Models that included this full set of candidate predictors satisfied non-collinearity requirements laid out in Weller et al (2011), and correlation among all potential predictors was limited, with the absolute value of all Pearson's r < 0.65.…”

Section: System-scale Predictors Of Fish and Crustacean Abundancementioning

confidence: 99%

Linking the Abundance of Estuarine Fish and Crustaceans in Nearshore Waters to Shoreline Hardening and Land Cover

Kornis

Breitburg

Balouskus

et al. 2017

Estuaries and Coasts

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Human alteration of land cover (e.g., urban and agricultural land use) and shoreline hardening (e.g., bulkheading and rip rap revetment) are intensifying due to increasing human populations and sea level rise. Fishes and crustaceans that are ecologically and economically valuable to coastal systems may be affected by these changes, but direct links between these stressors and faunal populations have been elusive at large spatial scales. We examined nearshore abundance patterns of 15 common taxa across gradients of urban and agricultural land cover as well as wetland and hardened shoreline in tributary subestuaries of the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Coastal Bays. We used a comprehensive landscape-scale study design that included 587 sites in 39 subestuaries. Our analyses indicate shoreline hardening has predominantly negative effects on estuarine fauna in water directly adjacent to the hardened shoreline and at the larger system-scale as cumulative hardened shoreline increased in the subestuary. In contrast, abundances of 12 of 15 species increased with the proportion of shoreline comprised of wetlands. Abundances of several species were also significantly related to watershed cropland cover, submerged aquatic vegetation, and total nitrogen, suggesting land-use-mediated effects on prey and refuge habitat. Specifically, abundances of four bottom-oriented species were negatively related to cropland cover, which is correlated with elevated nitrogen and reduced submerged and wetland vegetation in the receiving subestuary. These empirical relationships raise important considerations for conservation and management strategies in coastal environments.

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Section: System-scale Predictors Of Fish and Crustacean Abundancementioning

confidence: 99%

Linking the Abundance of Estuarine Fish and Crustaceans in Nearshore Waters to Shoreline Hardening and Land Cover

Kornis

Breitburg

Balouskus

et al. 2017

Estuaries and Coasts

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“…More recent studies have also shown that bacteria and microzooplankton (ciliates, heterotrophic nanoflagellates) abundances during the summer in North Inlet were at the high end of those reported in the literature [26,45]. Because the major proportion of annual planktonic primary production in North Inlet occurs during the summer [25,44], knowledge of the trophodynamics of microbial communities during this period is important to understanding overall ecosystem function in this estuary.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Use of Metabolic Inhibitors to Characterize Ecological Interactions in an Estuarine Microbial Food Web

DeLorenzo

Lewitus²,

Scott

et al. 2001

Microbial Ecology

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A B S T R A C TUnderstanding microbial food web dynamics is complicated by the multitude of competitive or interdependent trophic interactions involved in material and energy flow. Metabolic inhibitors can be used to gain information on the relative importance of trophic pathways by uncoupling selected microbial components and examining the net effect on ecosystem structure and function. A eukaryotic growth inhibitor (cycloheximide), a prokaryotic growth inhibitor (antibiotic mixture), and an inhibitor of photosynthesis (DCMU) were used to examine the trophodynamics of microbial communities from the tidal creek in North Inlet, a salt marsh estuary near Georgetown, South Carolina. Natural microbial communities were collected in the spring, summer, and fall after colonization onto polyurethane foam substrates deployed in the tidal creek. Bacterial abundance and productivity, heterotrophic ciliate and flagellate abundance, and phototrophic productivity, biomass, and biovolume were measured at five time points after inhibitor additions. The trophic responses of the estuarine microbial food web to metabolic inhibitors varied with season. In the summer, a close interdependency among phototrophs, bacteria, and protozoa was indicated, and the important influence of microzooplanktonic nutrient recycling was evident (i.e., a positive feedback loop). In the fall, phototroph and bacteria interactions were competitive rather than interdependent, and grazer nutrient regeneration did not appear to be an important regulatory factor for bacterial or phototrophic activities. The results indicate a seasonal shift in microbial food web structure and function in North Inlet, from a summer community characterized by microbial loop dynamics to a more linear trophic system in the fall. This study stresses the important role of microbial loops in driving primary and secondary production in estuaries such as North Inlet that are tidally dominated by fluctuations in nutrient supply and a summer phytoplankton bloom.

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“…Odum (1988) and Vernberg (1993) noted that freshwater flow from rain events altered the existing assemblage of organisms in an estuary, and stated that more studies need to be conducted on salinity because it affects the vast majority of estuarine biota. In this study, we investigated the impact of salinity changes on estuarine fiddler crabs belonging to the species Uca minax, U. pugnax and U. pugilator in the North Inlet Estuary, South Carolina (see Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of summer storms on early life stages of Uca minax, U. pugnax and U. pugilator in North Inlet Estuary, South Carolina, USA

Godley¹,

Brodie²

2007

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Estuarine fiddler crabs have a complex life cycle that spans vastly different salinity regimes. Larvae are spawned in estuaries and travel to the coastal ocean where development takes place; after metamorphosing to the megalopal stage, fiddler crabs reinvade estuaries where they settle and metamorphose. In the coastal ocean, larvae experience relatively stable physical conditions; however, upon reinvading estuaries, they are exposed to great fluxes in salinity and temperature. In this study, we measured shifts in the salinity regime caused by storm events, and determined the impact of these changes on species frequencies of megalopae from 3 Uca species in the water column and of their recently settled juvenile crabs on the benthos along a salt marsh creek in South Carolina. Adults of the 3 species examined are found in different salinity regimes: adult Uca pugnax generally occupy areas with relatively high salinity and plant cover, while U. minax are found in low salinity or freshwater areas; U. pugilator are found in open sandy areas over a broad range of salinities, but generally occupy higher salinity environments than U. minax. For megalopal stages in the water column, we found that the relative proportions of the 3 species changed significantly along salinity gradients and in response to storm events. When the salinity regime normalized, species frequencies for megalopae returned to pre-storm proportions. Only U. minax megalopae were present in the water column during a storm event in July, whereas U. pugnax had been the most abundant species in the water column prior to the storm. Although all 3 species were able to survive storm events as juveniles, U. pugnax juveniles survived low salinity conditions significantly better than the other 2 species during the July storm. During a less severe storm in August, which lasted 5 d and altered the existing profile for a week, the benthic juvenile stages did not exhibit significant changes in species frequencies. Our results show that the duration and severity of salinity change are important variables that impact on the presence of these Uca species in the water column, and suggest that the physiology and behavior of the megalopal stage strongly influence where populations occur within estuaries.KEY WORDS: Salinity · Tolerance · Uca spp. · Estuarine crabs 342: 197-204, 2007 this investigation allowed us to explore how changes in species frequencies of early life stages under shifting salinity regimes could lead to changes in the distribution of these species across the marsh landscape. Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog SerLike most estuarine invertebrates, fiddler crab (Uca spp.) have complex life cycles that include life stages that occupy different habitats. The adults live and spawn in the estuary (salinity range from 0 to 32 psu) and larvae are dispersed into the coastal ocean (salinity ~35 psu) where larval development is completed. Fiddler crab megalopae (also known as post-larvae) reinva...

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Salt‐marsh processes: A Review

Cited by 109 publications

References 152 publications

Linking the Abundance of Estuarine Fish and Crustaceans in Nearshore Waters to Shoreline Hardening and Land Cover

Linking the Abundance of Estuarine Fish and Crustaceans in Nearshore Waters to Shoreline Hardening and Land Cover

Use of Metabolic Inhibitors to Characterize Ecological Interactions in an Estuarine Microbial Food Web

Effect of summer storms on early life stages of Uca minax, U. pugnax and U. pugilator in North Inlet Estuary, South Carolina, USA

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