Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T06:02:58.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Establishing Spartina alterniflora Marsh in North Carolina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Ernest D. Seneca ,
Stephen W. Broome ,
William W. Woodhouse Jr ,
Leon M. Cammen  and
Joseph T. Lyon III
Ernest D. Seneca
Affiliation:
Departments of Botany and Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607, U.S.A.
Stephen W. Broome
Affiliation:
Departments of Botany and Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607, U.S.A.
William W. Woodhouse Jr
Affiliation:
Departments of Botany and Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607, U.S.A.
Leon M. Cammen
Affiliation:
Departments of Botany and Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607, U.S.A.
Joseph T. Lyon III
Affiliation:
Departments of Botany and Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27607, U.S.A.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Spartina alterniflora salt-marsh has been established from seed and transplants on dredged materials and sandy shorelines along the North Carolina coast. Transplants were more successful than seeding over a greater portion of the intertidal range and under more rigorous environmental conditions, but seeding was successful in the upper half of protected sites. Seeding at the rate of 100 viable seeds per square metre from April through May can result in complete vegetational coverage by the end of the first growing-season. At the end of the second growing-season, above-ground biomass accumulation from seeding approached that produced by transplants which had originally been planted on a 0.9-metre centre. Both above-ground and below-ground production of planted marsh compared well with values for these components in natural marshes. There were no differences in production by epiphytes between planted and natural S. alterniflora marsh at two different locations. Faunal production in the upper 13 cm of sediment was significantly less in planted than in natural marsh, and where marsh plants accumulated sediments, faunal numbers and biomass were less in planted than in unplanted areas. Sediment carbon content indicated that 4 to 25 years might be required for a newly-planted marsh to resemble a natural marsh.

Based on our studies, the techniques developed to plant S. alterniflora on dredged material and along sandy shorelines can be employed to initiate new and functional salt-marsh where none existed previously. The length of time required for man-initiated marsh to resemble natural marsh depends upon how closely the new substrate resembles natural marsh in the type of sediment accumulated, in the elevation of the new substrate, in the natural sedimentation rate in the area, and in the relative maturity of the natural marsh system.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1976 , pp. 185 - 188
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Broome, Stephen W., Woodhouse, William W. Jr, & Seneca, Ernest D. (1974). Propagation of Smooth Cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora, from seed in North Carolina. Chesapeake Science, 15(4), pp. 214–21, 6 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broome, Stephen W., Woodhouse, William W. Jr, & Seneca, Ernest D. (1975 a). The relationship of mineral nutrients to growth of Spartina alterniflora in North Carolina, I. Nutrient status of plants and soils in natural stands. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings, 39(2), pp. 295–301, 2 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broome, Stephen W., Woodhouse, William W. Jr, & Seneca, Ernest D. (1975 b). The relationship of mineral nutrients to growth of Spartina alterniflora in North Carolina, II. The effects of N, P, and Fe fertilizers. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings, 39(2), pp. 301–7, 3 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cammen, Leon M., Seneca, Ernest D. & Copeland, B. J. (1974). Animal colonization of salt-marshes artificially established on dredge spoil. University of North Carolina Sea Grant Program, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, UNC-SG-74-15, 67 pp., 12 figs.Google Scholar
Cooper, Arthur W. (1969). Salt marshes. Pp. 55–98 and 24 figs i n Coastal Ecological Systems of the United States (Ed. Odum, H. T.,Copeland, B. J. & Mcmahon, E. A.). The Conservation Foundation, Washington, D.C.: Vol. II, 521 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Gosselink, James G., Odum, Eugene P. & Pope, R. M. (1974). The Value of the Tidal Marsh. Center for Wetland Resources, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, LSU-SG-74–03, 30 pp.Google Scholar
Lyon, Joseph T., III (1975). A comparison of epiphytes on natural and planted Spartina alterniflora marshes. Unpublished M.S. Thesis, Department of Botany, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina: 48 pp., 4 figs.Google Scholar
Odum, Eugene P. (1961). The role of tidal marshes in estuarine production. Conservationist, 15(6), pp. 12–5, 3 figs.Google Scholar
Odum, Eugene P. & Cruz, Armando A. de la (1967). Particulate organic detritus in a Georgia salt-marsh-estuarine ecosystem. Pp. 383–8 and 7 figs in Estuaries (Ed. Lauff, G. H.). American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C: xv+757 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Pomeroy, Lawrence A., Johannes, R. E., Odum, Eugene P. & Roffman, B. (1969). The phosphorus and zinc cycles and the productivity of a salt-marsh. Pp. 412–9 and 3figsin Proceedings of the Second National Symposium on Radio ecology (Ed. Nelson, D. J. & Evans, F. C.). USAEC Doc. CONF–670503, Oak Ridge, Tennessee: xii + 751 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Seneca, Ernest D. (1974). Germination and seedling response of Atlantic and Gulf coasts populations of Spartina alterniflora. American Journal of Botany, 61(9), pp. 947–56, 8 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stroud, Linda M. (1976). Net Primary Production of Below ground Material and Carbohydrate Patterns of Two Height forms of Spartina alterniflora in Two North Carolina Marshes. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Botany, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina: 140 pp., 17 figs.Google Scholar
Teal, John M. (1962). Energy flow in the salt-marsh ecosystem of Georgia. Ecology, 43(4), pp. 614–24, 4 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, Richard B. & Murdoch, Marianne B. (1969). The potential importance of Spartina alterniflora in conveying zinc, manganese, and iron into estuarine food-chains. Pp. 431–9 and 4 figs in Proceedings of the Second National Symposium on Radioecology (Ed. Nelson, D. J. & Evans, F. C.), USAEC Doc. Conf-670503, Oak Ridge, Tennessee: xii + 751 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Woodhouse, William W. Jr, Seneca, Ernest D. & Broome, Stephen W. (1972). Marsh building with dredge spoil in North Carolina. North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, Bulletin 445, 28 pp., 22 figs.Google Scholar
Woodhouse, William W. Jr, Seneca, Ernest D., & Broome, Stephen W. (1974). Propagation of Spartina alterniflora for substrate stabilization and salt-marsh development. U.S Army, Coastal Engineering Research Center, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Tech. Memo. 46, 155 pp., 61 figs.Google Scholar
Woodhouse, William W. Jr, Seneca, Ernest D., & Broome, Stephen W. (in press). Propagation and use of Spartina alterniflora for shoreline erosion abatement. U.S. Army, Coastal Engineering Research Center, Fort Belvoir, Virginia: 68 pp., 31 figs.Google Scholar