PULSED HYDROLOGY DRIVES SOIL-PLANT INTERACTIONS IN SALT MARSHES

David Burdick

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory Department of Natural Resources and the Environment

University of New Hampshire

Durham, NH 03824

david.burdick@unh.edu

ABSTRACT

Salt marsh ecosystems are so stressful that only a handful of plants have been able to adapt to these salty waterlogged habitats. Yet Spartina marshes are among the most productive ecosystems of the world. Plant adaptations to soils flooded by saltwater tides range from ethanol production to killing their own cells. Such adaptations are examined on the plant level, then re-examined at the ecosystem scale to see how feedbacks between soils, tides and plants interact to produce recognizable marsh features, such as the streamside effect.

Threats to salt marshes, including human activities that unintentionally interfere with marsh interactions, are considered in this context.