Concepts and Controversies in Tidal Marsh Ecology -  Michael P. Weinstein

Concepts and Controversies in Tidal Marsh Ecology

Online Resource
894 Seiten
2002
Kluwer Academic Publishers (Hersteller)
978-0-306-47534-4 (ISBN)
166,59 inkl. MwSt
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Tidal salt marshes are viewed as critical habitats for the production of fish and shellfish. As a result, considerable legislation has been promulgated to conserve and protect these habitats. The relatively young science of ecological engineering has also emerged, and there are now attempts to reverse centuries-old losses by encouraging sound wetland restoration practices. Today, tens of thousands of hectares of degraded or isolated coastal wetlands are being restored worldwide. Whether restored wetlands reach functional equivalency to natural systems is a subject of heated debate. Equally debatable is the paradigm that depicts tidal salt marshes as the great engine that drives much of the secondary production in coastal waters. This view was questioned in the early 1980s by investigators who noted that total carbon export was of much lower magnitude than originally thought. These authors also recognized that some marshes were either net importers of carbon, or showed no net exchange.; Thus, the notion of outwelling has become but a single element in an evolving view of marsh function and the link between primary and secondary production. The revisionist movement was launched in 1979 when stable isotopic ratios of macrophytes and animal tissues were found to be mismatched. Some 18 years later, the view of marsh function is still undergoing additional modification, and we are slowly unravelling the complexities of biogeochemical cycles, nutrient exchange, and the links between primary producers and the marsh/estuary fauna. Yet, since Teal's paper nearly 40 years ago, we are not much closer to understanding how marshes work. If anything, we have learned that the story is far more complicated than originally thought. Despite more than four decades of intense research, we do not yet know how salt marshes function as essential habitat, nor do we know the relative contributions to secondary production, both in situ or in the open waters of the estuary.; The theme of the symposium papers collected here was to review the status of salt marsh research and revisit the existing paradigm(s) for salt marsh function. Challenge questions were designed to meet the controversy around whether marshes support the production of marine transient species, If so, how? Are any of these species marsh obligates? How much of the production takes place in situ versus in open waters of the estuary/coastal zone? Sessions were devoted to reviews of landmark studies, or current findings that advance our knowledge of salt marsh function. A day was also devoted to ecological engineering and wetland restoration papers addressing methodology and specific case histories. Several challenge papers arguing for and against our ability to restore functional salt marshes led off each session. This volume is intended to serve as a synthesis of understanding of the ecological role of salt marshes.

Foreword. Dedication. Preface. Retrospective on the Salt Marsh Paradigm. Tidal marshes as outwelling/pulsing systems; E.P. Odum. Salt marsh values: etrospection from the end of the century; J.M. Teal, B.L. Howes. Sources and Patterns of Production. Role of salt marshes as part of coastal landscapes; I. Valiela, et al. Spatial variation in process and pattern in salt marsh plant communities in eastern North America; M.D. Bertness, S.C. Pennings. Eco-physiological controls on the productivity of Spartina alterniflore; I.A. Menselssohn, J.T. Morris. Community structure and functional dynamics of benthic microalgae in salt marshes; M.J. Sullivan, C.A. Currin. Structure and productivity of microtidal Mediterranean coastal marshes; C. Ibañez, et al. Development and structure of salt marshes: community patterns in time and space; A.J. Davy. Fate of Production Within Marsh Food Webs. Microbial secondary production from salt marsh-grass shoots, and its known and potential fates; S.Y. Newell, D. Porter. Trophic complexity between producers and invertebrate consumers in salt marshes; D.A. Kreeger, R.I.E. Newell. Trophic linkages in marshes: ontogenetic changes in diet for young-of-the-year mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus; K.J. Smith, et al. Habitat Value: Food and/or Refuge. Factors influencing habitat selection in fishes with a review of marsh ecosystems; J.K. Craig, L.B. Crowder. Salt marsh ecoscapes and production transfers by estuarine nekton in the southeastern U.S.; R.T. Kneib. Salt marsh linkages to productivity of penaeid shrimps and blue crabs in the northern Gulf of Mexico; R.J. Zimmerman, et al. Ecophysiological determinants ofsecondary production in salt marshes: a simulation study; J.M. Miller, et al. Salt marsh ecosystem support of marine transient species; L.A. Deegan, et al. Biogeochemical Processes. Benthic-pelagic coupling in marsh-estuarine ecosystems; R.F. Dame, et al. Twenty more years of marsh and estuarine flux studies: revisiting Nixon (1980); D.L. Childers, et al. The role of oligohaline marshes in estuarine nutrient cycling; J.Z. Merrill, J.C. Cornwell. Molecular tools for studying biogeochemical cycling in salt marshes; L. Kerkhof, D.J. Scala. Nitrogen and vegetation dyamics in European salt marshes; J. Rozema, et al. Modeling Nutrient and Energy Flux. A stable isotope model approach to estimating the contribution of organic matter from marshes to estuaries; P.M. Eldrige, L.A. Cifuentes. Types of salt marsh edge and export of trophic energy from marshes to deeper habitats; G. Cichetti, R.J. Diaz. Silicon is the link between tidal marshes and estuarine fisheries: a new paradigm; C.T. Hackney, et al. Tidal Marsh Restoration: Fact or Fiction? Self-design applied to coastal restoration; W.J. Mitsch. Functional equivalency of restored and natural salt marshes; J.B. Zedler, R. Lindig-Cisneros. Organic and inorganic contributions to vertical accretion in salt marsh sediments; R.E. Turner, et al. Landscape structure and scale constraints on restoring estuarine wetlands for Pacific coast juvenile fishes; C.A. Simenstad, et al. Ecological Engineering of Restored Marshes. The role of pulsing events in the functioning of coastal barriers and wetlands: implications for human impact, management and the response to sea level rise; J.W. Day, et al. Influences of vegetation and abiotic environmental f

Verlagsort Dordrecht
Sprache englisch
Themenwelt Naturwissenschaften Biologie Botanik
Naturwissenschaften Biologie Limnologie / Meeresbiologie
Naturwissenschaften Biologie Ökologie / Naturschutz
ISBN-10 0-306-47534-0 / 0306475340
ISBN-13 978-0-306-47534-4 / 9780306475344
Zustand Neuware
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