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Metrics for Evaluating Inundation Impacts on the Decomposer Communities in a Southern California Coastal Salt Marsh

  • Wetlands and Climate Change
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Abstract

Southern California coastal wetlands are heavily impacted by urbanization and are under increased inundation stress due to sea level rise (SLR). This study evaluated the impacts of inundation on decomposition rates and sediment decomposer communities (invertebrates, fungi, and bacteria) by manipulating inundation using a marsh organ. Under increased inundation, invertebrate diversity decreased, and plant litter decomposition was reduced by excluding fungi and invertebrates from substrates using litter bags, indicating that all three decomposer guilds are important. This study showed significant impacts of increased inundation on bacterial, fungal and invertebrate community structure and diversity, yet only modest effects on sulfate reduction and decomposition rates, suggesting a degree of resilience or functional redundancy in the decomposer community. While the marsh organ successfully simulated increased inundation, it also created experimental ‘bottle effects’ that may have obscured inundation treatment effects and altered communities from the natural marsh. In our study, invertebrates were most sensitive to inundation, while bacteria appeared to be more resistant. This has implications for how decomposition and associated biogeochemical and ecological processes might change in the face of increased inundation due to SLR and suggests that marsh organs may be less suitable for investigating microbial communities compared with plants.

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Acknowledgments

We want to acknowledge Dr. Jason Keller for all of his help and insights with the biogeochemical cycles of the salt marshes and decomposition rates, Justyn Hinricher for his help with building marsh organs and sample collections, Elizabeth Harrison for help with the litter bags, Ryan Freedman for assistance in the field, and two anonymous reviewers at Wetlands. In addition, we acknowledge all of the graduate and undergraduate students who have helped on this project: Megan Rodela, Lindsay Darjany, Karen Jackson, Priscilla Miranda, Michelle Levish, Tanya Asef, Anita Arenas, Cuper Ramirez, Kylle Roy, and Tanya Marquez. We are very thankful to the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy for allowing us access to their property. We would also like to acknowledge the sources of funding for this project: CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology award COAST-GDP-2014-007 (to JD & CW) and CSUCOAST-MCLNAT-CSULB-AY1314 award (to NM), CSULB Donald Reish Scholarship (to NM), Southern California Academy of Sciences (to NM), and Southern California Tuna Club (to NM).

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA, 90840, USA

    Nathan McLain, Lorenzo Camargo, Christine R. Whitcraft & Jesse G. Dillon

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  1. Nathan McLain
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  2. Lorenzo Camargo
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  3. Christine R. Whitcraft
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  4. Jesse G. Dillon
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Correspondence to Jesse G. Dillon.

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ESM 1

Abiotic factors measured (a) continuously by dataloggers and (b–d) manually during every quarterly sample collection. Error bars represent standard deviation. (PNG 436 kb)

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ESM 2

Stacked bar graphs showing (a) bacteria, (b) fungi, and (c) invertebrate relative abundance. (PNG 949 kb)

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McLain, N., Camargo, L., Whitcraft, C.R. et al. Metrics for Evaluating Inundation Impacts on the Decomposer Communities in a Southern California Coastal Salt Marsh. Wetlands 40, 2443–2459 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-020-01361-x

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