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Evaluating the progress of restored cordgrass (Spartina foliosa) marshes: Belowground biomass and tissue nitrogen

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Abstract

We report the first data on belowground tissue mass and nitrogen (N) concentration forSpartina foliosa in southern California, assessing one natural and two constructed marshes on San Diego Bay. Biomass at the natural marsh was low compared to that of otherSpartina spp., but higher than values reported forS. foliosa in northern California. In sandy constructed marshes planted 5 and 10 years before this study,S. foliosa had lower belowground tissue N, lower N crop (%N×biomass), and shallower roots than in the adjacent natural marsh. We took advantage of a 2-yr, large-scale fertilization project being performed in the older constructed marsh and examined biomass and N storage after N additions. Although there was a trend toward N accumulation with fertilization, N crop remained at approximately 50% of natural marsh levels, unlike the large aboveground responses to N addition in our previous studies. Lower belowground reserves help to explain poor aerial growth in the created marshes and suggest the need for finer sediments (with greater potential for holding and supplying nutrients) to sustain (S. foliosa. While fine sediments are beginning to accumulate on the surface of the created marshes, vertical accretion is more likely to shift the plant community toward other species than to enhanceS. foliosa growth. We suggest salvaging and importing fine, organic marsh sediments or providing organic amendments to establish proper substrate conditions. Overexcavating and allowing fine sediments to accumulate remains an option, although the time scale is unpredictable due to the stochasticity of accretion events.

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Author notes

  1. Katharyn E. Boyer

    Present address: Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution, University of California, 90095-1606, Los Angeles, California

  2. John C. Callaway

    Present address: Department of Environmental Science, University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton Street, 94117-1070, San Francisco, California

  3. Joy B. Zedler

    Present address: Botany Department and Arboretum, University of Wisconsin, 430 Lincoln Drive, 53706, Wisconsin, Madison

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Estuarine Research Laboratory, San Diego State University, 6495 Alvanrado Road, Suite 106, 92182-1870, San Diego, California

    Katharyn E. Boyer, John C. Callaway & Joy B. Zedler

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  1. Katharyn E. Boyer
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  2. John C. Callaway
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Correspondence to Katharyn E. Boyer.

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Boyer, K.E., Callaway, J.C. & Zedler, J.B. Evaluating the progress of restored cordgrass (Spartina foliosa) marshes: Belowground biomass and tissue nitrogen. Estuaries 23, 711–721 (2000). https://doi.org/10.2307/1352897

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