Tidal salt marshes of the southeast Atlantic Coast: A community profile

Technical Report · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5032823· OSTI ID:5032823

Wiegert, R G; Freeman, B J

This report is part of a series of community profiles on the ecology of wetland and marine communities. This particular profile considers tidal marshes of the southeastern Atlantic coast, from North Carolina south to northern Florida. Alone among the earth's ecosystems, coastal communities are subjected to a bidirectional flooding sometimes occurring twice each day; this flooding affects successional development, species composition, stability, and productivity. In the tidally influenced salt marsh, salinity ranges from less than 1 ppt to that of seawater. Dominant plant species include cordgrasses (Spartina alterniflora and S. cynosuroides), black needlerush (Juncus romerianus), and salt marsh bulrush (Scirpus robustus). Both terrestrail and aquatic animals occur in salt marshes and include herons, egrets ospreys (Pandion haliaetus), bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), alligators (Alligator Mississippiensis), manatees (Trichecus manatus), oysters, mussels, and fiddler crabs. Currently, the only significant direct commercial use of the tidal salt marshes is by crabbers seeking the blue crab Callinectes sapidus, but the marshes are quite important recreationally, aesthetically, and educationally. 151 refs., 45 figs., 6 tabs.

• Research Organization: Georgia Univ., Athens, GA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOI; Department of the Interior, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5032823
• Report Number(s): BR-85(7.29); ON: TI92001842
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540210* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
540310 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BASELINE ECOLOGY
BIOLOGY
BIRDS
CARBON CYCLE
COASTAL REGIONS
COMMUNITIES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ECOLOGICAL SUCCESSION
ECOLOGY
ECOSYSTEMS
FEDERAL REGION IV
FISHES
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
HABITAT
INVERTEBRATES
MAMMALS
MARSHES
NORTH AMERICA
NORTH CAROLINA
PLANTS
POPULATION DENSITY
POPULATION DYNAMICS
PRODUCTIVITY
REPTILES
SALINITY
SEAS
SIMULATION
SOUTH CAROLINA
SPECIES DIVERSITY
SURFACE WATERS
TAXONOMY
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
TIDE
USA
VERTEBRATES
WETLANDS