Abstract
Soil organic matter, roots, rhizomes, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission rates were examined in minerogenic marshes of the North Inlet Estuary, a system dominated by sediment depositional processes and typical of the Southeast USA. Three marsh sites were sampled: a long-term nutrient enrichment experiment at Goat Island; the high marsh, low marsh, and creekbank of Crab Haul Creek, a fringing marsh that only receives drainage from a forested watershed; and three creekbank locations in Debidue Creek, which receives drainage from a residential and golf course development situated at its headwaters. Goat Island responses to 12 years of nutrient fertilization were an increase in soil organic matter (OM), an increase in number of rhizomes, enlarged rhizome diameters, and increased CO2 emission rates. At soil depths of 10–20 cm, all Debidue creekbank locations had significantly more rhizomes than the reference Crab Haul creekbank. The rhizome diameters at the mid and upper Debidue creekbank locations were significantly larger than the Debidue mouth and reference Crab Haul creekbank. The upper Debidue and the Crab Haul creekbanks had similar soil percent OM, which was significantly greater than the mid Debidue, which was greater than the Debidue mouth. CO2 emission rates at the fertilized Goat Island plots were similar in magnitude to the upper Debidue and significantly greater than the Goat Island control plots and the reference Crab Haul Creek. Inputs of sediment in marshes dominated by depositional processes may buffer the system from adverse effects of nutrient exposure, while increases in soil OM and rhizomes in response to nutrients may contribute to peat formation.
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Acknowledgments
C. Wigand is grateful for a visiting scientist award (2007–2008) from the Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Science and support from the National Science Foundation LTREB program, which supported part of this study. We thank Tracy Buck (BMFL) for assistance in the field, Rex Tien and Alana Hanson for assistance in the lab, and Morgan Cencer for assistance with data analyses. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the US Environmental Protection Agency. This report is ORD Tracking Number ORD-007374 of the Atlantic Ecology Division, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency. The report has been reviewed technically by the US EPA’s Office of Research and Development, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Atlantic Ecology Division, Narragansett, RI, and approved for publication. Approval does not signify that the contents necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Agency.
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Wigand, C., Davey, E., Johnson, R. et al. Nutrient Effects on Belowground Organic Matter in a Minerogenic Salt Marsh, North Inlet, SC. Estuaries and Coasts 38, 1838–1853 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9937-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9937-8