Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

An inventory of 13C abundances in coastal wetlands of Louisiana, USA: vegetation and sediments

  • Original Papers
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Organic carbon-rich sediments from the surface of fresh, intermediate, brackish and salt marshes of coastal Louisiana were sampled and analyzed for their 13C content. The average ∂13C from all sites within each wetland type was-27.8‰,-22.1‰,-16.9‰, and-16.2‰, for fresh, intermediate, brackish and salt marshes, respectively. Means from the fresh, intermediate and brackish marshes were significantly different at the 0.01 level. A mixing model using measurements of standing crop and ∂13C of plant carbon was applied to estimate the contribution of each species to the sedimentary carbon at four of the marsh sites. Sedimentary ∂13C values generally reflected that of the dominant species present at each site. Brackish and salt marsh samples, however, showed a negative shift of ∂13C with respect to whole plant carbon. We interpret these depeleted ∂13C values to be the result of more extensive organic matter decomposition and selective preservation of 13C-depleted refractory components in sediments from saline sites. The results of this study suggest that ∂13C composition of sedimentary carbon may offer a valuable tool for distinguishing subtle changes in paleohydrology of wetlands resulting from relative sea level changes.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aharon P, Chappell J (1986) Oxygen isotopes, sea level changes and the temperature history of a coral reef environment in New Guinea over the last 105 years. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palacoecol 56:337–379

    Google Scholar 

  • Bahr LM, Costanza R, Day JW Jr, Bayley SE, Neill C, Leibowitz SG, Fruci J (1983) Ecological characterization of the Mississippi deltaic plain region: a narrative with management recommendations. FWS/OBS-82/69, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Biological Services, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bein A, Horowitz A (1986) Papyrus-a historic newcomer to the Hula Valley, Israel? Rev Palaeobot Palynol 47:89–95

    Google Scholar 

  • Benner R, Moran MA, Hodson RE (1985) Effects of pH and plant source on lignocellulose biodegradation rates in two wetland ecosystems, the Okefenokee Swamp and a Georgia salt marsh. Limnol Oceanogr 30:489–499

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjorkman O, Gauhl E (1969) Carboxydismutase activity in plants with and without β-carboxylation photosynthesis. Planta 88:197–203

    Google Scholar 

  • Chabreck RH (1972) Vegetation water and soil characteristics of the Louisiana coastal region. Agric Exp Sta Bull No 664, Louisiana State Univ, Baton Rouge

    Google Scholar 

  • Chmura GL, Aharon P, Socki RA, Patrick WH (1985) The potential of a ∂13C signature for wetland deposits in coastal Louisiana. EOS 66:1280

    Google Scholar 

  • Claypool GE, Kaplan IR (1974) The origin and distribution of methane in marine sediments. pp 99–139 In: Kaplan IR (ed) Natural gases in marine sediments. Plenum Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Conner WH, Sasser CE, Barker N (1986) Floristics of the Barataria Basin wetlands, Louisiana. Castanea 51:111–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Craig H (1957) Isotopic standards for carbon and oxygen and correction factors for mass spectrometric analysis of carbon dioxide. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 12:133–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Day, FP Jr (1982) Litter decomposition rates in the seasonally flooded Great Dismal Swamp. Ecology 63:670–678

    Google Scholar 

  • DeLaune RD (1986) The use of ∂13C signature of C-3 and C-4 plants in determining past depositional environments in rapidly accreting marshes of the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain, Louisiana, USA. Chem Geol 59:315–320

    Google Scholar 

  • Deines P (1980) The isotopic composition of reduced organic carbon. In: Fritz P, Fontes JCh (ed) Handbook of Environmental isotope geochemistry. Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, New York, pp 329–406

    Google Scholar 

  • Dzurec RS, Boutton TW, Caldwell MM, Smith BN (1985) Carbon isotope ratios of soil organic matter and their use in assessing community composition changes in Curlew Valley, Utah. Oecologia (Berlin) 66:17–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Ember LM, Williams DF, Morris JT (1987) Processes that influence carbon isotope variations in salt marsh sediments. Mar Ecol Prog Series 36:33–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Emery KO, Wigley RL, Bartlett AS, Rubin M, Barghoorn, ES (1967) Freshwater peat on the continental shelf. Science 158:1301–1307

    Google Scholar 

  • Feijtel TC (1986) Biogeochemical cycling of metals in Barataria Basin. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge

  • Feijtel TC, DeLaune RD, Patrick WH Jr (1986) Carbon flow in coastal Louisiana. Mar Ecol Prog Series 24:255–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerstengerger HH (1982) Report on the intercomparison for the isotope standards Limestone KH2 and polyethylene foil PEF 1. Akademic der Wissenschaften. Leipzig, DDR

    Google Scholar 

  • Gosselink JG (1984) The ecology of delta marshes of coastal Louisiana: a community profile. FWS/OBS-84/09, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Biological Services, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gosselink JG, Hopkinson CS Jr, Parrondon RT (1977) Common marsh plant species of the gulf coast area. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tech Rep D-77-44, Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi

    Google Scholar 

  • Haines EB (1976a) Relation between the stable carbon isotope composition of fiddler crabs, plants, and soils in a salt marsh. Limnol Oceanog 21:880–883

    Google Scholar 

  • Haines EB (1977b) Stable carbon isotope in the biota, soils and tidal water of a Georgia salt marsh. Est Coast Mar Sci 4:609–616

    Google Scholar 

  • Hue AY (1980) Origin and formation of organic matter in recent sediments and its relation to kerogen. In: Durand B (ed) Kerogen-insoluble organic matter from sedimentary rocks. Editions Technip, Paris, pp 445–474

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson RW, Calder JA (1973) Early diagenesis of fatty acids and hydrocarbons in a salt marsh environment. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 37:1943–1955

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilham OW, Alexander M (1984) A basis for organic matter accumulation in soils under anaerobiosis. Soil Sci 137:419–427

    Google Scholar 

  • Little TM, Hills FJ (1978) Agricultural experimentation-design and analysis. John Wiley and Sons, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Nissenbaum A, Kaplan IR (1972) Chemical and isotopic evidence for the in situ origin of marine humic substance. Limnol Oceanogr 17:570–582

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Leary M (1981) Carbon isotope fractionation in plants. Phytochemistry 20:553–567

    Google Scholar 

  • Penfound WT, Hathaway ES (1938) Plant communities in the marshlands of southeastern Louisiana. Ecol Monorgr 8:1–56

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson BJ, Howarth RW, Lipschultz F, Ashendorf D (1980) Salt marsh detritus: an alternative interpretation of stable carbon isotope ratios and the fate of Spartina alterniflora. Oikos 34:173–177

    Google Scholar 

  • Sasser CE, Gosselink JG (1984) Vegetation and primary productivity in a floating freshwater marsh in Louisiana. Aquatic Bot 20:245–255

    Google Scholar 

  • Sasser CE, Fuller D, Gosselink JG (1978) Environmental monitoring program. Louisiana offshore oil port pipeline. 1978 Annual report. Coastal Ecology Laboratory, Center for Wetland Resources, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge

    Google Scholar 

  • Sasser CE, Peterson GW, Fuller DA, Abernethy RK, Gosselink JG (1982) Environmental monitoring program. Louisiana offshore oil port pipeline. 1981 Annual report. Coastal Ecology Laboratory, Center for Wetland Resources, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge

    Google Scholar 

  • Schoell M, Faber E, Coleman ML (1983) Carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions of the NBS 22 and NBS 21 stable isotope reference materials: an interlaboratory comparison. Org Geochem 5:3–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Shonwitz R, Stichler W, Ziegler H (1986) ∂13C values from soil respiration on sites with crops of C3 and C4 type of photosynthesis. Oecologia (Berlin) 69:305–308

    Google Scholar 

  • Shultz DJ, Calder JA (1976) Organic carbon 13C/12C variations in estuarine sediments. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 40:381–385

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith BN, Brown WV (1973) The Kranz syndrome in the graminae as indicated by carbon isotope ratios. Amer J Bot 60:505–513

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith BN, Epstein S (1971) Two categories of 13C/12C ratios for higher plants. Plant Physiol 47:380–384

    Google Scholar 

  • Sofer Z (1980) Preparation of carbon dioxide for stable carbon isotope analysis of petroleum fractions. Anal Chem 52:1389–1391

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternberg L, DeNiro MJ, Keeley JE (1984) Hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon isotope ratios of cellulose from submerged aquatic crassulacean acid metabolism and non-crassulacean acid metabolism plants. Plant Physiol 76:68–70

    Google Scholar 

  • Tenney FG, Waksman SA (1930) Composition of natural organic materials and their decomposition in the soil: V. Decomposition of various chemical constituents in plant materials, under anaerobic conditions. Soil Sci 30:143–160

    Google Scholar 

  • Troughton JH, Card KA, Hendy CH (1974) Photosynthetic pathways and carbon isotope discrimination by plants. Carnegie Inst Yearbook 73:768–779

    Google Scholar 

  • Valiela I, Howes B, Howarth R, Giblin A, Foreman K, Teal J, Hobbie J (1982) Regulation of primary production and decomposition in a salt marsh ecosystem. In: Gopal B, Turner RE, Wetzel RG, Whigham DF (eds) Wetlands: ecology and mangement. Proceedings of the First International Wetlands Conference, New Delhi, India, International Scientific Publications, Jaipur, India, pp 151–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Vogel JC (1980) Fractionation of the carbon isotopes during photosynthesis. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Waksman SA, Tenney FG, Stevens KR (1928) The role of microorganisms in the transformation of organic matter in forest soils. Ecology 9:126–144

    Google Scholar 

  • Whelan T (1974) Methane, carbon dioxide and dissolved sulfate from interstitial water of coastal marsh sediments. Estuarine Coastal Mar Sci 2:407–415

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. R. A. Socki

    Present address: Waste Management Division, US Environmental Protection Agency, 60604, Chicago, IL, USA

  2. R. Abernethy

    Present address: Dept. of Conservation, Division of Forestry and Ecological Services, 701 Broadway, 37203, Nashville, TN, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Wetland Soils and Sediments and Dept. Marine Science, Center for Wetland Resources, Louisiana State University, 70803, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    G. L. Chmura

  2. Dept. Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University, 70803, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    P. Aharon & R. A. Socki

  3. Coastal Ecology Institute, Center for Wetland Resources, Louisiana State University, 70803, Baton Rouge, LA, USA

    R. Abernethy

Authors
  1. G. L. Chmura
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. P. Aharon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. R. A. Socki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. R. Abernethy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Chmura, G.L., Aharon, P., Socki, R.A. et al. An inventory of 13C abundances in coastal wetlands of Louisiana, USA: vegetation and sediments. Oecologia 74, 264–271 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379369

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379369

Key words

Search

Navigation