Influence of flooding and vegetation on carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus dynamics in the pore water of a Spartina alterniflora salt marsh

Abstract

Four sites were selected in a salt marsh in the Bahía Blanca Estuary (Argentina): (1) low marsh (flooded by the tide twice daily) vegetated by S. alterniflora; (2) non-vegetated low marsh; (3) high marsh (flooded only in spring tides) vegetated by S. alterniflora; (4) non-vegetated high marsh. The pH and Eh were measured in sediments, while dissolved nutrients (ammonium, nitrate, nitrite and phosphate) and particulate organic matter (POM) were determined in pore water. pH (6.2-8.7) was only affected by vegetation in low areas. Eh (from −300 to 250 mV) was lower at low sites than at high ones; in the latter, the values were higher in the non-vegetated sediments. The POM concentration was greater in the high marsh than in the low marsh, with no effect of vegetation. Ammonium was the most abundant nitrogen nutrient species in pore water, except in the non-vegetated high marsh where nitrate concentration was higher. All nitrogen nutrients were affected by both flooding and vegetation. Phosphate was always present in pore water at all sites throughout the year and its concentration varied within narrow limits, with no effect of flooding and greater values always at non-vegetated sites. Our results showed that the variability of the pore water composition within the marsh is greater than the temporal variation, meaning that both tidal flooding and vegetation are important in the dynamics of nutrients and organic matter in the sediment pore water.