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Different short-term responses of greenhouse gas fluxes from salt marsh mesocosms to simulated global change drivers

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Abstract

Salt marshes are valued as important greenhouse gas (GHG) sinks, but global changes in climate, nitrogen (N) pollution, and exotic species invasion may alter this marsh function. With the goal of better understanding the potential responses of coastal marsh GHG fluxes to interacting global changes, a multifactorial experiment was conducted. Two climate treatments (present-day and end-of-century temperatures and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations) and two N treatments (non-enriched and simulated eutrophic estuary conditions) were applied to mesocosms containing either invasive Phragmites australis (Cav. Trin. Ex Steud.) or native Spartina patens (Aiton) Muhl. vegetated soil cores. Fluxes of CO2, methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) were measured in each mesocosm before and after treatment using cavity ring-down spectrometry, along with vegetation growth, edaphic conditions, and pore water chemistry. Methane emissions increased in P. australis but not in S. patens mesocosms under climate change conditions, while CO2 fluxes were similar between vegetation types and treatments. Nitrous oxide emissions increased with N loading from both S. patens and P. australis mesocosms, but were decreased in N-enriched S. patens mesocosms under climate change conditions. These findings demonstrate complex GHG flux responses to global change and suggest the potential for vegetation community-specific responses, though further research is needed to test mechanisms underlying observed GHG flux patterns.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (Hatch Project #229286, grant to Moseman-Valtierra) and the National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Cooperative Agreement (#EPS-1004057, graduate fellowship to Martin). Sincere thanks go to C. Wigand and two anonymous reviewers for manuscript advice, and to J. Bowen, L. Meyerson, A. Roberts, and C. Wigand for their design advice. We thank I. Armitstead, I. Burns, L. Brannon, S. Doman, S. Kelley, T. Moebus, and K. Sperry for their assistance with mesocosm preparation and data collection, and C. Martin for assistance with R code for a data analysis automation script.

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  1. Rose M. Martin

    Present address: EPA Atlantic Ecology Division, 27 Tarzwell Dr., Narragansett, RI, 02882, USA

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, 120 Flagg Rd., Kingston, RI, 02881, USA

    Rose M. Martin & Serena Moseman-Valtierra

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Correspondence to Rose M. Martin.

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Martin, R.M., Moseman-Valtierra, S. Different short-term responses of greenhouse gas fluxes from salt marsh mesocosms to simulated global change drivers. Hydrobiologia 802, 71–83 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3240-1

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