Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- The Hudson River Estuary
- 1 The Hudson River Estuary: Executive Summary
- GEOLOGICAL, PHYSICAL, AND CHEMICAL SETTING OF THE HUDSON
- PRIMARY PRODUCTION, MICROBIAL DYNAMICS, AND NUTRIENT DYNAMICS OF THE HUDSON
- HUDSON RIVER COMMUNITIES, FOOD WEBS, AND FISHERIES
- 12 Larval Migrations Between the Hudson River Estuary and New York Bight
- 13 The Diadromous Fish Fauna of the Hudson River: Life Histories, Conservation Concerns, and Research Avenues
- 14 Fisheries of the Hudson River Estuary
- 15 The Role of Tributaries in the Biology of Hudson River Fishes
- 16 Ecology of the Hudson River Zooplankton Community
- 17 Submersed Macrophyte Distribution and Function in the Tidal Freshwater Hudson River
- 18 Long-Term and Large-Scale Patterns in the Benthic Communities of New York Harbor
- 19 The Benthic Animal Communities of the Tidal-Freshwater Hudson River Estuary
- 20 Tidal Wetlands of the Hudson River Estuary
- 21 Alien Species in the Hudson River
- CONTAMINANTS AND MANAGEMENT ISSUES OF THE HUDSON RIVER ESTUARY
- Index
- Plate section
- References
20 - Tidal Wetlands of the Hudson River Estuary
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of Contributors
- The Hudson River Estuary
- 1 The Hudson River Estuary: Executive Summary
- GEOLOGICAL, PHYSICAL, AND CHEMICAL SETTING OF THE HUDSON
- PRIMARY PRODUCTION, MICROBIAL DYNAMICS, AND NUTRIENT DYNAMICS OF THE HUDSON
- HUDSON RIVER COMMUNITIES, FOOD WEBS, AND FISHERIES
- 12 Larval Migrations Between the Hudson River Estuary and New York Bight
- 13 The Diadromous Fish Fauna of the Hudson River: Life Histories, Conservation Concerns, and Research Avenues
- 14 Fisheries of the Hudson River Estuary
- 15 The Role of Tributaries in the Biology of Hudson River Fishes
- 16 Ecology of the Hudson River Zooplankton Community
- 17 Submersed Macrophyte Distribution and Function in the Tidal Freshwater Hudson River
- 18 Long-Term and Large-Scale Patterns in the Benthic Communities of New York Harbor
- 19 The Benthic Animal Communities of the Tidal-Freshwater Hudson River Estuary
- 20 Tidal Wetlands of the Hudson River Estuary
- 21 Alien Species in the Hudson River
- CONTAMINANTS AND MANAGEMENT ISSUES OF THE HUDSON RIVER ESTUARY
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
abstract There are about 2,900 ha of tidal wetlands in the Hudson River. Tidal flow between wetlands and the “main river” moves sediment, nutrients, organic matter, and organisms in and out of the wetlands. Sediment deposition rates in the tidal wetlands are about 0.05–2.9 cm yr−1. In wetlands separated from the main river by a railroad, scoured pools remain just inside the openings and large tidal creeks radiate into the gradually-filling landward part of the wetland. Although large areas of the estuary have been filled, there has been a net gain of wetland area. Sediments, vegetation, animal communities, and ecosystem functions may be different in the railroad-sheltered wetlands and the wetlands on sandy dredged material than they were in unaltered wetlands. In Hudson River tidal wetlands, the elevation gradient, from near Mean Low Water through the intertidal zone to near Mean High Water, is correlated with increases in sediment organic matter (SOM), plant litter cover and litter mass, and aboveground peak biomass, height, and species richness of vascular plants. Among different marshes, SOM is correlated with abundance and diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates and fish species richness. Tidal waters are the main source of nitrogen for the marshes, whereas phosphorus appears to come from upland tributaries or decay of organic matter in sediments. The lower intertidal zone is nearly bare of vascular vegetation in the more brackish and the more sandy wetlands; in silty freshwater tidal wetlands this zone is occupied by spatterdock and pickerelweed. The middle intertidal zone is occupied by saltmarsh cordgrass in the most brackish marsh, but by a mixture of many broadleaf and grasslike plants in lower salinity wetlands.
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- The Hudson River Estuary , pp. 279 - 295Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
References
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