In general, community similarity is thought to decay with distance; however, this view may be complicated by the relative roles of different ecological processes at different geographical scales, and by the compositional perspective (e.g. species, functional group and phylogenetic lineage) used. Coastal salt marshes are widely distributed worldwide, but no studies have explicitly examined varia...

Stable carbon isotope ratios of bacterial biomarkers were determined to infer sources of organic carbon used by bacteria in the sediments of three salt marshes. Biomarkers studied were polar lipid-derived fatty acids (PLFA), mainly bacteria-specific, methyl-branched i15 : 0 and a15 : 0. Experiments showed that isotopic fractionation between substrate and biomarkers was relatively constant (24 t...

Spiders constitute a major arthropod group in regularly inundated habitats. Some species survive a flooding period under water. We compared survival during both submersion and a recovery period after submersion, in three stenotopic lycosids: two salt-marsh species Arctosa fulvolineata and Pardosa purbeckensis, and a forest spider Pardosa lugubris. Both activity and survival rates were determine...

Central aspects of carbon and sulfur biogeochemistry were studied along a transect extending from an unvegetated mudflat into a Spartina anglica salt marsh. Conditions along the transect differed with respect to tidal elevation, sediment characteristics, vegetation coverage, and benthic macrofauna abundance. Dark sediment O2 uptake and CO2 emission at the highly bioturbated mudflat were low and...

Tidal channels are one of the most common and prominent geomorphic features on salt marshes. Because of their much smaller resistance to water flow compared with that of the densely vegetated marsh area, well developed tidal channels often function as arteries and carry significant amount of water as well as sediments during both the flood and ebb period of salt marshes hydraulic cycle. Therefo...

Twenty-eight tidal creeks along the South Carolina coast were sampled during the summer of 1995 to determine the levels of sediment contamination including organic chemicals (i.e., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons [PAHs], polychlorinated biphenyls [PCBs], and DDT and its metabolites) associated with different types and varying levels of watershed development (i.e., industrial/urban, suburban, f...

Plant cover is a fundamental feature of many coastal marine and terrestrial systems and controls the structure of associated animal communities. Both natural and human-mediated changes in plant cover influence abiotic sediment properties and thus have cascading impacts on the biotic community. Using clipping (structural) and light (shading) manipulations in two salt marsh vegetation zones (one ...

Traditional methods of managing salt marsh mosquitoes focus primarily on maximizing the reduction of mosquito populations, with minimizing environmental impact as a secondary consideration. An environment-oriented approach to salt marsh management for mosquito control, runnelling, is described and compared with other forms of habitat modification such as ditching and Open Marsh Water Management...

Groundwater–surface water exchange in salt marsh ecosystems mediates nearshore salt, nutrient, and carbon budgets with implications for biological productivity global climate. Despite their importance, a synthesis of groundwater studies is lacking. In this review, we summarize drivers mediating hydrogeology, review field modeling techniques, discuss patterns exchange. New data from Delaware see...