In September 1969, the Florida barge spilled 700,000L of No. 2 fuel oil into the salt marsh sediments of Wild Harbor (Buzzards Bay, MA). Today the aboveground environment appears unaffected, but a substantial amount of moderately degraded petroleum still remains 8-20cm below the surface. The salt marsh fiddler crabs, Uca pugnax, burrow into the sediments at depths of 5-25cm, and are chronically...

In September 1969, the Florida barge spilled 700,000 L of No. 2 fuel oil into the salt marsh sediments of Wild Harbor, MA. Today a substantial amount, approximately 100 kg, of moderately degraded petroleum remains within the sediment and along eroding creek banks. The ribbed mussels, Geukensia demissa, which inhabit the salt marsh creek bank, are exposed to the spilled oil. Examination of short...

Salt marsh ecosystems have been considered not susceptible to nitrogen overloading because early studies suggested that salt marshes adsorbed excess nutrients in plant growth. However, the possible effect of nutrient loading on species composition, and the combined effects of nutrients and altered species composition on structure and function, was largely ignored. Failure to understand interact...

This investigation was undertaken to determine whether the mosquito larvicide temephos (applied as Abate 4-Et) created an environmental hazard for nontarget organisms in a southwest Florida salt marsh community. Field toxicity tests were performed during routine larvicide applications using larvae of salt marsh crabs (Aratus pesonii and Uca rapax) and adult Mysidopsis bahia. Laboratory toxicity...

The objectives of this study were to document avian species inhabiting West River Memorial Park in New Haven, Connecticut and develop goals for restoration of a salt marsh bird community. Restoration goals were based on the breeding season bird community at the restoration site, breeding season communities of less disturbed salt marshes, and a literature review. Community descriptions included ...

Abstract. The persistence of tidal wetland ecosystems like salt marshes is threatened by human interventions and climate change. In particular, the threat accelerated sea level rise (SLR) has increasingly gained attention scientific community recently. However, studies investigating effect SLR on plants vertical marsh accretion are usually restricted to species or do not consider phenotypic pla...

Ria de Aveiro is a mesotidal coastal lagoon with one of the largest continuous salt marshes in Europe. The objective of this work was to assess C, N and P stocks of Spartina maritima (low marsh pioneer halophyte) and Juncus maritimus (representative of mid-high marsh halophytes) combined with the contribution of Halimione portulacoides, Sarcocornia perennis, and Bolbochenous maritimus to the la...

In this study, we examined the phenology of the salt marsh ecosystem across coastal Louisiana (LA) for a 16-year time period (2000–2015) using NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer’s (MODIS) eight-day average surface reflectance images (500 m). We compared the performances of least squares fitted asymmetric Gaussian (AG) and double logistic (DL) smoothing functions in terms of in...

BACKGROUND In many parts of the world, salt marshes play a key ecological role as the interface between the marine and the terrestrial environments. Salt marshes are also exceedingly important for public health as larval habitat for mosquitoes that are vectors of disease and significant biting pests. Although grid ditching and pesticides have been effective in salt marsh mosquito control, marsh...

Historical and recent remote sensing data can be used to address temporal and spatial relationships between upland land cover and downstream vegetation response at the watershed scale. This is demonstrated for sub-watersheds draining into Elkhorn Slough, California, where salt marsh habitat has diminished because of the formation of sediment fans that support woody riparian vegetation. Multiple...