Summary
Dead parts of salt-marsh plants form a considerable fraction of their annual average standing crop. A microbial assemblage living on and in the standing-dead leaves and stems of Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus responds to saltwater, freshwater or water-vapor wetting by immediately beginning to release CO2. Water-saturated, standing-dead leaves and culms of S. alterniflora release CO2 at steady rates of as much as about 200 and 140 μg CO2−C·g-1 dry·h-1, respectively, at temperatures of 25–30°C, after an initial burst of higher rates. These CO2-release rates are within the range of maximal rates reported for decaying terrestrial litter, and are as high as most rates reported for S. alterniflora decaying under continuously wetted or submerged conditions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson JPE (1982) Soil respiration. In: Page AL (ed) Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Chemical and microbial properties. Second edition. Soil Science Society of America, Madison, Wisconsin, pp 831–871
Apinis AE, Taligoola HK (1975) Biodegradation of Phragmites commununis Trin. by fungi. In: Kilbertus G et al. (eds) Biodégradation et humification. Pierron, Sarreguemines, pp 24–32
Bååth E, Söderström B (1979) The significance of hyphal diameter in calculation of fungal biovolume. Oikos 33:11–14
Boddy L (1983) Carbon dioxide release from decomposing wood: effect of water content and temperature. Soil Biochem 15:501–510
Brooks PC, Tate KR, Jenkinson DS (1983) The adenylate energy charge of the soil microbial biomass. Soil Biol Biochem 15:9–16
Chalmers AG, Wiegert RG, Wolf PL (1985) Carbon balance in a salt marsh: Interactions of diffusive export, tidal deposition and rainfall-caused erosion. Est Coastal Shelf Sci 21 (in press)
Christian RR (1984) A life-table approach to decomposition studies. Ecology 65:1693–1697
Clarholm M, Popović B, Rosswall T, Söderström B, Sohlenius B, Staaf H, Wirén A (1980) Biological aspects of nitrogen mineralization in humus from a pine forest podzol incubated under different moisture and temperature conditions. Oikos 37:137–145
DeBoois HM (1974) Measurement of seasonal variations in the oxygen uptake of various litter layers of an oak forest. Plant Soil 40:545–555
Fallon RD, Newell SY, Groene LC (1985) Phylloplane algae of standing-dead Spartina. Mar Biol 75 (in press)
Flanagan PW, Van Cleve K (1983) Nutrient cycling in relation to decomposition and organic-matter quality in taiga ecosystems. Can J For Res 13:795–817
Gallagher JL, Pfeiffer WJ (1977) Aquatic metabolism of the communities associated with attached dead shoots of salt marsh plants. Limnol Oceanogr 22:562–564
Gallagher JL, Reimold RJ, Linthurst RA, Pfeiffer WJ (1980) Aerial production, mortality, and mineral accumulation-export dynamics in Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus plant stands in a Georgia salt marsh. Ecology 61:303–312
Gallagher JL, Kibby HV, Skirvin KW (1984) Community respiration of decomposing plants in Oregon estuarine marshes. Est Coastal Shelf Sci 18:421–431
Hanson RB, Tenore KR (1981) Microbial metabolism and incorporation by the polychaete Capitella capitata of aerobically and anaerobically decomposed detritus. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 6:299–307
Heal OW, Latter PM, Howsen G (1978) A study of the rates of decomposition of organic matter. In: Heal OW, Perkins DF (eds) Production ecology of British moors and montane grasslands. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 136–159
Hicks, RE (1983) Microbial growth during the initial decomposition of Spartina alterniflora leaves. Ph.D. Dissertatioin. University of Georgia, p 245
Hopkinson CS, Gosselink JG, Parrondo RT (1978) Aboveground production of seven marsh plant species in coastal Louisiana. Ecology 59:760–769
Howard PJA, Howard DM (1979) Respiration of decomposing litter in relation to temperature and moisture. Microbial decomposition of tree and shrub leaf litter 2. Oikos 33:457–465
Howarth RW, Fisher SG (1976) Carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus dynamics during leaf decay in nutrient-enriched stream microecosystems. Freshwater Biol 6:221–228
Howarth RW, Giblin A (1983) Sulfate reduction in the salt marshes at Sapelo Island, Georgia. Limnol Oceanogr 28:70–82
Hussey A, Long SP (1982) Seasonal changes in weight of above-and below-ground vegetation and dead plant material in a salt marsh at Colne Point, Essex. J Ecol 70:757–771
Knapp EB, Elliott LF, Campbell GS (1983) Microbial respiration and growth during the decomposition of wheat straw. Soil Biol Biochem 15:319–323
Lee C, Howarth RW, Howes BL (1980) Sterols in decomposing Spartina alterniflora and the use of ergosterol in estimating the contribution of fungi to detrital nitrogen. Limnol Oceanogr 25:290–303
Lee JJ, Mastropaolo CA, McEnery ME, Tietjen JH, Garrison JR (1982) In situ monitoring of the effects of water quality on benthic detrital decompostion. In: Mayer GF (ed) Ecological stress and the New York Bight: Science and management. Estuarine Research Federation, Columbia, South Carolina, pp 569–585
Leonard MA, Anderson JM (1981) Homogenisation and estimates of fungal mycelium using the agar-film technique. Soil Biol Biochem 13:547–549
Marinucci AC, Hobbie JE, Helfrich JVK (1983) Effect of litter nitrogen on decomposition and microbial biomass in Spartina alterniflora. Microb Ecol 9:27–40
Nagy LA, Macauley BJ (1982) Eucalyptus leaf-litter decomposition: effects of relative humidity and substrate moisture content. Soil Biol Biochem 14:233–236
Newell SY (1984) Modification of the gelatin-matrix method for enumeration of respiring bacterial cells, for use with salt marsh water samples. Appl Environ Microb 47:873–875
Newell SY, Fallon RD (1982) Bacterial productivity in the water column and sediments of the Georgia (USA) coastal zone: estimates via direct counting and parallel measurement of thymidine incorporation. Microb Ecol 8:33–46
Newell SY, Fallon RD (1983) Study of fungal biomass dynamics within dead leaves of cordgrass: progress and potential. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Aquatic Macrophytes. Catholic University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, pp 150–160
Newell SY, Fallon RD, Miller JD (1986) Measuring fungal-biomass dynamics in standing-dead leaves of a salt-marsh vascular plant. In: Moss ST (ed) Fourth International Marine Mycology Symposium. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, in press.
Newell SY, Statzell-Tallman A (1982) Factors for conversion of fungal biovolume values to biomass, carbon, and nitrogen: variation with mycelial ages, growth conditions, and strains of fungi from a salt marsh. Oikos 39:261–268
Orchard VA, Cook FJ (1983) Relationship between soil respiration and soil moisture. Soil Biol Biochem 15:447–453
Pomeroy LR, Wiegert RG (eds) (1981) The ecology of a salt marsh. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York, pp 271
Rounick JS, Winterbourn MJ (1983) Leaf processing in two contrasting beech forest streams: Effects of physical and biotic factors on litter breakdown. Arch Hydrobiol 96:448–474
Schubauer JP, Hopkinson CS (1984) Above- and belowground emergent macrophyte production and turnover in a coastal marsh ecosystem, Georgia. Limnol Oceanogr 29:1052–1065
Seneca ED, Blum W (1984) Response to photoperiod and temperature by Spartina alterniflora (Poaceae) from North Carolina and Spartina foliosa from California. Am J Bot 71:91–99
Seto M, Yanagiya K (1983) Rate of CO2 evolution from soil in relation to temperature and amount of dissolved organic carbon. Jpn J Ecol 33:199–205
Smith CJ, DeLaune RD, Patrick WH (1983) Carbon dioxide emission and carbon accumulation in coastal wetlands. Est Coastal Shelf Sci 17:21–29
Teal JM, Kanwisher J (1961) Gas exchange in a Georgia salt marsh. Limnol Oceanogr 6:388–399
Woodwell GM, Houghton RA, Hall CAS, Whitney DE, Moll RA, Juers DW (1979) The Flax Pond Ecosystem Study: The annual metabolism and nutrient budgets of a salt marsh. In: The 19th Symposium of the British Ecological Society. Blackwell, Oxford, pp 491–511
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Newell, S.Y., Fallon, R.D., Cal Rodriguez, R.M. et al. Influence of rain, tidal wetting and relative humidity on release of carbon dioxide by standing-dead salt-marsh plants. Oecologia 68, 73–79 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379477
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379477