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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

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Abstract

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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Acknowledgments

In a project with a history of several decades, many people, agencies, and institutions made essential contributions. The owners of salt marsh parcels in Great Sippewissett marsh, the Arnold Gifford family during the early years, and more recently the Edward Hughes family, as well as Salt Pond Inc., and the Massachusetts Audubon Society, have been exceedingly forward-looking, helpful, and accommodating by allowing us to establish and maintain the experimental plots within their properties. We are indebted to many colleagues that shared the work and aims for the many decades behind this effort. Foremost, we thank John Teal, who steadfastedly made us focus on important aspects during the early decades of the Great Sippewissett salt marsh project. We owe a substantial debt to Brian Howes and Dale Goehringer and their students at the School of Marine Sciences and Technology, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, for their continuing efforts in maintaining the experimental plots. We also thank Carley Schacter for assistance in the field, and Daniel Steinberg, Frederic Jaffre, and Alfredo Aretxabaleta for help with ArcGIS and Matlab. This work was supported, over the years, by many private and federal sources, of which we here only note NSF grants DEB-0516430, DEB-0914795, and OCE-0453292, and NOAA grant NA07NOS4200025 to IV.

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  1. The Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA

    Liza Fox, Ivan Valiela & Erin L. Kinney

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  1. Liza Fox
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  2. Ivan Valiela
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Correspondence to Ivan Valiela.

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Fox, L., Valiela, I. & Kinney, E.L. 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. Estuaries and Coasts 35, 445–458 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-012-9479-x

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