Concurrent Assessment of Eelgrass Beds (Zostera marina) and Salt Marsh Communities along the Estuarine Gradient of the South Slough, Oregon

Rumrill, Steven S.; Sowers, Derek

doi:10.2112/si55-016.1

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…As also observed by other authors in coastal lotic ecosystems of different geographical regions (Hickenbick et al 2004, Rumrill & Sowers 2008, Watson & Byrne 2009, Ribeiro et al 2011, Janousek & Folger 2014, emergent life form was the dominant one among aquatic macrophytes in the sampled coastal rivers. Emergent species, especially estuarine ones, have propagation, growth and persistence strategies through clonal shoots and long-term rhizomes or stolons (Bertness & Ellison 1987).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Inventory of Aquatic Macrophyte Species in Coastal Rivers of the São Paulo State, Brazil

et al. 2019

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The coastal region of the São Paulo state (Southeastern Brazil) is marked by the presence of the Serra do Mar, a system of mountain ranges with altitude up to 1,000 m. Due to the difference of proximity of the mountain range to the coastline, the coastal plains have different width. As a consequence, the rivers that cross the plains also have different length, greater or less influence of marine waters and slope variation. We carried on an inventory of aquatic macrophyte species in order to assess the species and life form richness and latitudinal distribution in this region. Macrophytes were inventoried at 100 sampling sites in eight rivers (between 9 and 19 sites per river) in March 2017. General descriptions on taxonomic aspects, life forms and frequency of occurrence of the macrophytes were explored. We recorded 45 taxa of aquatic macrophytes belonging to 24 families. Three species are exotic, but they presented low frequencies of occurrence. The vast majority of the taxa have emergent life form. Floating and submerged macrophytes were found in only two rivers. The most frequent species were Crinum americanum L. (Asparagales, Amaryllidaceae), Spartina alterniflora Loisel. (Poales, Poaceae) and Schoenoplectus californicus (C. A. Mey.) Soják (Poales, Cyperaceae). Most taxa are rare in terms of occurrence. Only four species occurred along a large part of the north-south stretch sampled and these, possibly, have a wide tolerance to the variation in resource requirements and salinity. The north-south gradient of the taxa occurrence may be related to the diversity of environmental characteristics due to differences in the rivers length and coastal plains width.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Inventory of Aquatic Macrophyte Species in Coastal Rivers of the São Paulo State, Brazil

et al. 2019

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“…The structural support for a standard RSET platform can create scouring (e.g. at the Collver Point study site 34 ), leading to holes of a few centimetres deep to cones of depression (Frankovich, pers. comm).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hence, the RSET method complements and extends other approaches, and has been recommended as a global standard for measuring wetland vulnerability to climate change given the right spatial coverage and timeframes of monitoring 32 . Despite the similarities between mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrass meadows, and the advantages of the RSET methodology, very few studies have so far used RSETs or similar methods in seagrasses 34 , 35 . Testing the applicability of approaches that provide similar insight to seagrasses as those gained from RSET approaches in other wetlands, in a range of settings, was a key objective of the current work.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring the role of seagrasses in regulating sediment surface elevation

Potouroglou

Bull

Krauss

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

128

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Seagrass meadows provide numerous ecosystem services and their rapid global loss may reduce human welfare as well as ecological integrity. In common with the other ‘blue carbon’ habitats (mangroves and tidal marshes) seagrasses are thought to provide coastal defence and encourage sediment stabilisation and surface elevation. A sophisticated understanding of sediment elevation dynamics in mangroves and tidal marshes has been gained by monitoring a wide range of different sites, located in varying hydrogeomorphological conditions over long periods. In contrast, similar evidence for seagrasses is sparse; the present study is a contribution towards filling this gap. Surface elevation change pins were deployed in four locations, Scotland, Kenya, Tanzania and Saudi Arabia, in both seagrass and unvegetated control plots in the low intertidal and shallow subtidal zone. The presence of seagrass had a highly significant, positive impact on surface elevation at all sites. Combined data from the current work and the literature show an average difference of 31 mm per year in elevation rates between vegetated and unvegetated areas, which emphasizes the important contribution of seagrass in facilitating sediment surface elevation and reducing erosion. This paper presents the first multi-site study for sediment surface elevation in seagrasses in different settings and species.

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“…These issues have received attention in the growing geomorphological literature about the shoreline water table, especially on sandy beaches (Jackson et al, 2002;Li et al, 2006), but have seldom been related directly to their impacts on beach biota. Several recent studies have shown that local groundwater characteristics, especially low-salinity seeps, can significantly affect flora and fauna (Dale and Miller, 2008;Rumrill and Sowers, 2008;Zipperle and Reise, 2005) and thus behavior of predators such as birds (Rosa et 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Dethier-16 16 al., 2007). The shorelines of Puget Sound are mostly backed by bluffs of glacial deposits (as illustrated in Jackson et al 2002); erosion of these leads to beaches that are a mix of many sediment types.…”

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confidence: 99%

Restricted ranges in physical factors may constitute subtle stressors for estuarine biota

Dethier

Ruesink

Berry

et al. 2010

Marine Environmental Research

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Biotic trends along estuarine gradients can be affected by co-varying processes ranging from large-scale oceanographic to local-scale physico-chemical effects. As a baseline for future process studies, we investigated the distinct gradients in species richness and biomass in pebblesand shorelines along the estuarine axis of Puget Sound, and the scales of variation of some of their physical correlates. Higher richness and biomass at beaches at the more marine end of the Sound are temporally consistent and seen in all trophic groups. Variables that correlate with biotic patterns include relatively subtle increases in beach surface and sediment temperatures and decreases in nearshore salinity near the head of the estuary, but not more localized parameters such as sediment grain size or porewater salinity. To understand whether these variables are true forcing functions of community structure, we are performing experimental work.

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Concurrent Assessment of Eelgrass Beds (Zostera marina) and Salt Marsh Communities along the Estuarine Gradient of the South Slough, Oregon

Cited by 11 publications

References 30 publications

Inventory of Aquatic Macrophyte Species in Coastal Rivers of the São Paulo State, Brazil

Inventory of Aquatic Macrophyte Species in Coastal Rivers of the São Paulo State, Brazil

Measuring the role of seagrasses in regulating sediment surface elevation

Restricted ranges in physical factors may constitute subtle stressors for estuarine biota

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