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Home , Salt marsh

Marine Littoral Ecosystems

I. 1. Zones 2. PNW Locations 3. Perspectives in Geological Time Rocky Intertidal II. Ecosystems 1. Oceanic & Neritic Ecosystems 2.2. LiLittoralttoral EEcosystemscosystems Eelgrass Beds III. Human Interactions 1. Introduced Species 2. Harvesting Salt 3. Mariculture 4. Chemical Pollution 5. Land Conversion

Littoral Ecosystems Littoral Ecosystems Shoreline habitat gradients drawing in your textbook (pg. 78) Shoreline Habitat Gradients

Salt Marsh HIGH – ENERGY LOW – ENERGY SHORELINES SHORELINES

Eelgrass Low Surfgrass Eelgrass Beds Beds Ecosystems Beds Intertidal Rocky Intertidal

Rocky Intertidal Ecosystems

Bluff – Salt High Marsh Intertidal Ecosystems High Low Energy Energy

Seagrass Beds: a note on nomenclature Littoral Ecosystems: Eelgrass Beds Beds

Surfgrass Beds Eelgrass Beds

Phyllospadix scouleri Zostera marina

NOAA Slide Library

Kruckeberg (1991)

Exposed outer & Puget ; high energy environments low energy environments

NOAA Slide Library

•1 Eelgrass Beds 1. Environment Eelgrass Bed Distribution in • Protected, low-energy systems Puget Sound & San • Mostly upper subtidal to lower intertidal (exposed only at low ) Juan • Shallow gradient, sandy substrate (usually estuarine)

Note the lower abundance on more exposed shorelines

Eelgrass Beds Eelgrass Beds 2. Primary 2. Primary Productivity A) Primary Producers B) The Nature of Primary Productivity – why so productive? 1) Abundant nutrients: terrestrial, riverine, and tidal inputs Eelgrass (Zostera marina) 2) High light: shallow position Flowering, vascular plant 3) Moderate temperatures: year round growing season Eelgrass as an ecological engineer 4) Buoyancy: Minimal need for eelgrass structural investments Crustose algae & diatoms 30x magnification 5) Eelgrass as an ecological engineer: Epiphytes provide nearly 50% of NPP 6) Eelgrass organic exudates: Supports bacterial growth that traps dissolved nutrients, reducing nutrient loss from system

Eelgrass Beds Eelgrass Beds 3. Secondary Productivity - Consumers 3. Secondary Productivity - Consumers A) & Detritivores A) Herbivores & Detritivores Invertebrates feeding on eelgrass & epiphytes: Filter feeders – omnivores (sponges, bryozoans, bivalves, Snails, isopods, amphipods, crabs, etc. tunicates, marine worms, mussels, etc.)

Eelgrass isopod (Idotea resecata)

Mud snail (Batallaria attramentaria) Polychaete worms

Eelgrass snail Decorator crab (Oregonia gracilis) Littleneck clam (Lacuna varigata) Amphipods (Protothaca staminea) Mud clam (Mya arenaria)

Detrital feeders: Ghost shrimp, amphipods, worms Lug worm (Abarenicola pacificum) Bryozoans

Polychaete worms Few epifaunal feeders; mostly infaunal filter feeders – why? Mud shrimp Upogebia puettensis) Lug worm (Abarenicola pacificum)

Drawings from Padilla NERR Guide (1992) Drawings from Padilla Bay NERR Estuary Guide (1992)

•2 Eelgrass Beds Littoral Ecosystems: Salt Marsh 3. Secondary Productivity - Consumers B) Carnivores Filter feeders – omnivores (sponges, bryozoans, tunicates, marine worms, etc.) Mobile Invertebrates: crabs, shrimp, etc. Marine mammals: otters, otters, grey whales : variety of small eating epiphytic animals Birds: black brant, ducks, shorebirds, gulls, terns, jaegers, etc.

Salmonids Threespinbe stickleback (Gastrosteus aculeatus)

Dungeness crab (Cancer magister)

Drawings from Padilla Bay NERR Estuary Guide (1992)

Salt Salt Marshes 2. Salt Marsh Organisms 1. Abiotic Environment A) Primary Producers: some examples Factors influencing species’ presence & distribution • virginica Pickleweed Carex lyngbyii Lyngby’s Sedge Distichlis spicata Saltgrass • Frequency & duration of tidal coverage Distichlis spicata Saltgrass Jaumea carnosa Fleshy Jaumea Jaumea carnosa Fleshy Jaumea •Soil porosity (O2) Deschamsia caespitosa Tufted hairgrass Spergularia canadensis Sandspurry Triglochin maratima Seaside Arrowgrass • Soil organic content & nutrient availability Seaside Triglochin maritima Potentilla anserina Pacific Silverweed Arrowgrass • Dissolved oxygen Grindelia integrifolia Gumweed Green algae & Free-living & epiphytic Atriplex patula Fat-hen Saltbush • Tidal forcing & freshwater flooding (physical impacts) Dominated by grasses, sedges & herbs – all herbaceous plants

Why such a lack of woody primary producers?

Salt Marshes Salt Marshes 2. Salt Marsh Organisms 3. Communities in the Marsh Landscape B) Herbivores & Detritivores: some examples Habitat factors blend into a continuum in gentle topography Invertebrates: Isopods (Limnoria spp.) & shipworms (Bankia spp.) Other insects, annelid worms (nematodes), Crustaceans, Mollusks Vertebrates: Low Marsh High Marsh Birds (esp. migratory waterfowl) • Broad in marsh Occasional grazing mammals Fish • Sharp ecotones along tidal banks C) Carnivores: some examples Scirpus acutus Birds, mammals (marine, terrestrial), fish, insects, etc. Jaumea carnosa Coho salmon (and other anadromous fish) feed on insects and smaller fish in the water associated with sloughs and salt marshes & acclimate physiologically to different

Carex lyngbyei Salicornia virginica

•3 Salt Marshes Salt Marshes 3. Communities in the Marsh Landscape 4. Communities Diversity & Dynamics • Sharp ecotones along tidal channel banks A) The Role of Topography Subtle changes in elevation result in rapid changes in communities U Topography Æ U inundation frequency Æ U inundation duration Æ U salinity Æ U drought patterns & intensity Æ U dynamics (see part C below)

Distichlis spicata Salicornia virginica

Salt Marshes Salt Marshes 4. Communities Diversity & Dynamics 4. Communities Diversity & Dynamics B) The Role of Woody Debris in Topography & Disturbance An example of large woody debris & critical topography in Snohomish estuarine salt marshes Large organic material Black Lily (Fritillaria camchatkensis)

Provides topographic Acts as elements of heterogeneity disturbance

Ç Biodiversity & community dynamics

Salt Marshes Salt Marshes 4. Communities Diversity & Dynamics 4. Communities Diversity & Dynamics Large woody debris & critical topography in Snohomish estuarine salt marshes Black Lily (Fritillaria camschatcensis) C) Sediment Dynamics

Black lily only Accreting or eroding alter topography exists on logs of a (and hence habitats) and can either increase or certain decomposition decrease the extent of a salt marsh state at a certain tidal height in the estuary

x

12.0 x x x Tidal x x x x xx Height x 11.0 xx (ft) x x 10.0 x

•4 Salt Marshes Salt Marshes 4. Communities Diversity & Dynamics 5. Salt Marsh Productivity C) Sediment Dynamics Tremendously productive – why? Geology, climate, dams, watershed productivity 1) Abundant nutrients Terrestrial, riverine, and tidal inputs Detritus from salt Sediment & detritus marsh organisms ~80% Aboveground NPP and ~100% Belowground NPP go to from Productivity detrital pathway (decomposers rather than herbivores) – this is a “detrital ecosecosystem” stem” – RAPID nutrient ccycling cling Tidal height Salt Marsh Sediments River 2) High light flow Salt marsh vegetation Shallow position reduces erosional force of water & traps sediment 3) Moderate temperatures Tidal Sediment loss to Coastal, shoreline position forcing & circulation Final sediment level is determined by input - outflow

Salt Marshes Salt Marshes 5. Salt Marsh Productivity 6. The State of WA Salt What are the primary limitations for productivity? Marshes 1) Drought A) Decline in salt marsh Salinity & dry summers habitat area 2) Salinity 1800 – 1979: 70% loss in area Toxicity & other direct effects Particularly high in urban locations 3) Disturbances Physical & biotic disturbances

WA Dept of Natural Resources (1998)

Salt Marshes Salt Marshes 6. The State of WA Salt Marshes 6. The State of WA Salt Marshes B) Human Threats B) Current Human Threats 2) Development 1) Draining & filling (agriculture)

Ocean , Grays County

WA DNR 1998

•5 Salt Marshes Salt Marshes 6. The State of WA Salt Marshes 6. The State of WA Salt Marshes B) Current Human Threats 6) Introduction of exotic species: B) Current Human Threats an example 3) Shoreline physical alteration (jetties, , etc.) • Removal of tidal influence • Altering sediment dynamics 9 Jetties & levees at river mouths for navigation alterniflora invasion of Willapa Bay alter sediment outfall patterns 4) Diversion of freshwater input 5) Pollution of freshwater input • Nutrient enrichment • Heavy metals & toxic organics

Photos & graphics: WA Dept. of Ecology

Salt Marshes Salt Marshes

6. The State of WA Salt Marshes Spartina alterniflora invasion of Willapa Bay Spartina invasion of B) Current Human Threats Willapa Bay Some problems: 6) Introduction of exotic species: an example Converts mudflats to marshes Crowd out native plant species and associates Loss of habitat for some fish & shellfish Loss of habitat for some wintering & breeding birds (È 16-20%) Alters sediment transport Sediment accretion fufurtherrther accelerates conversion to marsh Sediment accretion can narrow channels & increase flood risk

Original conditions: Step 1: Spartina colonizes densely Mudflats Step 2: Dense foliage traps sediment, raising tidal Salt marsh level of site and steepening channel Spartina invasion colonizing tidal Spartina invasion altering sediment mudflats in Willapa Bay transport at the mouth of a

Photos: WA Dept. of Ecology

Salt Marshes

6. The State of WA Salt Marshes B) Current Human Threats 6) Introduction of exotic species: an example Spartina alterniflora invasion of Willapa Bay

Some possible “solutions”: Hand pulling (tons of people!) Burning Cutting / Mowing HbiidHerbicide Biocontrol

Leafhopper that feeds on Spartina extensively in its native range (East coast & S. CA).

Prokelisia marginata

Photo: Seagrant Oregon State Univ.

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