Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Nutrient Effects on Belowground Organic Matter in a Minerogenic Salt Marsh, North Inlet, SC

  • Published:
Estuaries and Coasts Aims and scope Submit manuscript

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, J.R.L. 1990. The formation of coastal peat marshes under an upward tendency of relative sea-level. Journal of the Geological Society of London 147: 743–745.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anisfeld, S.C., and T.D. Hill. 2012. Fertilization effects on elevation change and belowground carbon balance in a Long Island Sound tidal marsh. Estuaries and Coasts 35: 201–211.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, W. 1979. Aeration in higher plants. Advances in Botanical Research 7: 225–332.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Blum, L.K., and E. Davey. 2013. Below the salt marsh surface: Visualization of plant roots by computer-aided tomography. Oceanography 26(3): 85–87. doi:10.5670/oceanog.2013.49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buzzelli, C., O. Akman, T. Buck, E. Koepfler, J. Morris, and A. Lewitus. 2004. Relationships among water-quality parameters from the North Inlet–Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, South Carolina. Journal of Coastal Research 45: 59–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dame, R., and S. Libes. 1993. Oyster reefs and nutrient retention in tidal creeks. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 171: 251–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dame, R., M. Alber, D. Allen, M. Mallin, C. Montague, A. Lewitus, A. Chalmers, R. Gardner, C. Gilman, B. Kjerfve, J. Pinckney, and N. Smith. 2000. Estuaries of the south Atlantic coast of North America: Their geographical signatures. Estuaries 23: 793–819.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Davey, E., C. Wigand, R. Johnson, K. Sundberg, J. Morris, and C. Roman. 2011. Use of computed tomography imaging for quantifying coarse roots, rhizomes, peat, and particle densities in marsh soils. Ecological Applications 21: 2156–2171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deegan, L.A., D.S. Johnson, R.S. Warren, B. Peterson, J.W. Fleeger, S. Fagherazzi, and W. Wollheim. 2012. Coastal eutrophication as a driver of marsh loss. Nature 490: 388–392.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • DeLaune, R.D., C.J. Smith, and M.D. Tolley. 1984. The effect of sediment redox potential on nitrogen uptake, anaerobic root respiration and growth of Spartina alterniflora Loisel. Aquatic Botany 18: 223–230.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeLaune, R.D., J. Nyman, and W. Patrick. 1994. Peat collapse, ponding and wetland loss in a rapidly submerging coastal marsh. Journal of Coastal Research 10: 1021–1030.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fagherazzi, Sergio, Matthew L. Kirwan, Simon M. Mudd, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Stijn Temmerman, Andrea D’Alpaos, Johan van de Koppel, John M. Rybczyk, Enrique Reyes, Chris Craft, and Jonathan Clough. 2012. Numerical models of salt marsh evolution: Ecological, geomorphic, and climatic factors. Reviews of Geophysics 50, RG1002/28pages, doi:10.1029/2011RG000359.

  • Gardner, L.R., and D.E. Porter. 2001. Stratigraphy and geologic history of a southeastern salt marsh basin, North Inlet, South Carolina, USA. Wetlands Ecology and Management 93: 371–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heiri, O., A.F. Lotter, and G. Lemcke. 1999. Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: Reproducibility and comparability of results. Journal of Paleolimnology 25: 101–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoellein, T.J., and C.B. Zarnoch. 2014. Effect of eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) on sediment carbon and nitrogen dynamics in an urban estuary. Ecological Applications 24: 271–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holland, A.F., D.M. Sanger, C.P. Gawle, S.B. Lerberg, M.S. Santiago, G.H.M. Riekerk, L.E. Zimmerman, and G.I. Scott. 2004. Linkages between tidal creek ecosystems and the landscape and demographic attributes of their watersheds. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 298: 151–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howes, B.L., W.H. Dacey, and J.M. Teal. 1985. Annual carbon mineralization and below-ground production of Spartina alterniflora in a New England salt marsh. Ecology 66: 595–605.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). (2013) Climate change 2013: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group 1 to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ed. T.F. Stocker, D. Qin, G. K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S. K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex, P. M. Midgley) Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1535 pp

  • Kim, B., and H.J. Bokuniewicz. 1991. Estimates of sediment fluxes in Long Island Sound. Estuaries 14: 237–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, G.M., M.J. Klug, R.G. Wiegert, and A.G. Chalmers. 1982. Relation of soil-water movement and sulfide concentration to Spartina alterniflora production in a Georgia salt-marsh. Science 218(4567): 61–63.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kirwan, M.L., and J.P. Megonigal. 2013. Tidal wetland stability in the face of human impacts and sea-level rise. Nature 504: 53–60.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kirwan, M.L., and S.M. Mudd. 2012. Response of salt-marsh carbon accumulation to climate change. Nature 489: 550–553.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kirwan, M.L., G.R. Guntenspergen, A. D’Alpaos, J.T. Morris, S.M. Mudd, and S. Temmerman. 2010. Limits on the adaptability of coastal marshes to rising sea level. Geophysical Research Letters 37, L23401. doi:10.1029/2010GL045489.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kjerfve, B. 1986. Circulation and salt flux in a well mixed estuary. In Physics of shallow estuaries and bays, ed. J. van de Kreeke, 22–29. New York: Springer-Verlag.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Koch, M.S., I.A. Mendelssohn, and K.L. McKee. 1990. Mechanism for the hydrogen-sulfide-induced growth limitation in wetland macrophytes. Limnology and Oceanography 35: 399–408.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kolker, A.S. 2005. The impacts of climate variability and anthropogenic activities on salt marsh accretion and loss on Long Island. Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 241 p.

  • Mendelssohn, I.A., K.L. McKee, and W.H. Patrick Jr. 1981. Oxygen deficiency in Spartina alterniflora roots: Metabolic adaptation to anoxia. Science 214: 439–441.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mitsch, W.J., and J.G. Gosselink. 2000. Wetlands, 3rd ed. NY: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, J.T., and P.M. Bradley. 1999. Effects of nutrient loading on the carbon balance of coastal wetland sediments. Limnology and Oceanography 44: 699–702.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, J.T., P.V. Sundareshwar, P.T. Nietch, B. Kjerfve, and D.R. Cahoon. 2002. Responses of coastal wetlands to rising sea level. Ecology 83: 2869–2877.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, J.T., G.P. Shaffer, and J.A. Nyman. 2013a. Brinson review: Perspectives on the influence of nutrients on the sustainability of coastal wetlands. Wetlands. doi:10.1007/s13157-013-0480-3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, J.T., K. Sundberg, and C.S. Hopkinson. 2013b. Salt marsh primary production and its responses to relative sea level and nutrients in estuaries at Plum Island, Massachusetts, and North Inlet, South Carolina, USA. Oceanography 26: 78–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naidoo, G.K., L. McKee, and I.A. Mendelssohn. 1992. Anatomical and metabolic responses to waterlogging and salinity in Spartina alterniflora and S. patens (Poaceae). American Journal of Botany 79: 765–770.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nardi, S., D. Pizzeghello, A. Muscolo, and A. Vianello. 2002. Physiological effects of humic substances on higher plants. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 34: 1527–1536.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Newell, R.I.E. 2004. Ecosystem influences of natural and cultivated populations of suspension-feeding bivalve molluscs: A review. Journal of Shellfish Research 23: 51–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • NOAA. 2014. Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Estuarine Research Reserve System-wide Monitoring Program. Centralized Data Management Office, Baruch Marine Field Lab, University of South Carolina http://cdmo.baruch.sc.edu.

  • Nolte, S., E.C. Koppenaal, P. Esselink, K.S. Dijkema, M. Schuerch, A.V. DeGroot, J.P. Bakker, and S. Temmerman. 2013. Measuring sedimentation in tidal marshes: A review on methods and their applicability in biogeomorphological studies. Journal of Coastal Conservation. doi:10.1007/s11852-013-0238-3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sundareshwar, P.V., J.T. Morris, E.K. Koepfler, and B. Fornwalt. 2003. Phosphorus limitation of coastal ecosystem processes. Science 299: 563–565.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, R.E. 2011. Beneath the salt marsh canopy: Loss of soil strength with increasing nutrient loads. Estuaries and Coasts 34: 1084–1093.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Turner, R.E., B.L. Howes, J.M. Teal, C.S. Milan, E.M. Swenson, and D. Goehringer-Toner. 2009. Salt marshes and eutrophication: An unsustainable outcome. Limnology and Oceanography 54: 1634–1642.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Twilley, R. R., and V. Rivera-Monroy. 2009. Sediment and nutrient tradeoffs in restoring Mississippi River Delta: Restoration vs eutrophication. Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education, Issue 141, Pages 39–44.

  • Watson, E.B., A.J. Oczkowski, C. Wigand, A.R. Hanson, E.W. Davey, S.C. Crosby, R.L. Johnson, and H.M. Andrews. 2014. Nutrient enrichment and precipitation changes do not enhance resiliency of salt marshes to sea level rise in the Northeastern U.S. Climatic Change 125: 501–509.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weston, N.B. 2014. Declining sediments and rising seas: An unfortunate convergence for tidal wetlands. Estuaries and Coasts 37: 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wigand, C., P. Brennan, M. Stolt, M. Holt, and S. Ryba. 2009. Soil respiration rates in coastal marshes subject to increasing watershed nitrogen loads in southern New England, US. Wetlands 29: 952–963.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wigand, C., C.T. Roman, E.W. Davey, M.H. Stolt, R.L. Johnson, A. Hanson, E.B. Watson, S.B. Moran, D.R. Cahoon, J.C. Lynch, and P. Rafferty. 2014. Below the disappearing marshes of an urban estuary: Historic nitrogen trends and soil structure. Ecological Applications 24: 633–649. doi:10.1890/13–0594.1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, D., R.M. Gersberg, W.J. Ng, and S.K. Tan. 2014. Removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in aquatic-based systems: A review. Environmental Pollution 184: 620–639.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

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.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. EPA, Atlantic Ecology Division, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, Narragansett, RI, 02882, USA

    Cathleen Wigand, Earl Davey, Roxanne Johnson & Matt Holt

  2. Belle W. Baruch Institute for Marine and Coastal Sciences, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA

    Karen Sundberg, James Morris & Paul Kenny

  3. North Inlet–Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, PO Box 1630, Georgetown, SC, 29442, USA

    Erik Smith

Authors
  1. Cathleen Wigand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Earl Davey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Roxanne Johnson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Karen Sundberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. James Morris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Paul Kenny
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Erik Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Matt Holt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cathleen Wigand.

Additional information

Communicated by Marianne Holmer

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

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

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-014-9937-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation