Abstract
Salt marsh estuaries on the Georgia coast have been sites of classic studies leading to broad generalizations about the functioning of shallow estuarine ecosystems and the exchange of material between salt marshes and coastal waters. Several recent studies have suggested that these fundamental concepts need to be reevaluated. Not only are we uncertain as to the quantities of material fluxing in coastal ecosystems, we are also unsure of even the basic directions and mechanisms of exchange. Along the Georgia coast, the idea that salt marshes enrich coastal waters by the outwelling of organic detritus has been revised. The emerging concepts concerning these systems include: 1) algal-derived organic matter, from phytoplankton and benthic diatom photosynthesis within the estuary and just offshore, forms the bulk of organic seston, 2) vascular plant detritus is largely accumulated and consumed in marsh and estuarine sediments, 3) estuarine food webs are much more complex than has been thought, and 4) the most important roles of salt marshes in estuarine food webs are as refuges and feeding habitat for young and small animals, and as exporters of protein in the form of fish, crabs, and shrimp to coastal waters.
Problems worthy of attack Prove their worth by hitting back Piet Hein
Piet Hein (Grooks)
Contribution No. 382 of the University of Georgia Marine Institute
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Haines, E.B. (1979). Interactions between Georgia Salt Marshes and Coastal Waters: A Changing Paradigm. In: Livingston, R.J. (eds) Ecological Processes in Coastal and Marine Systems. Marine Science, vol 10. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9146-7_3
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