Salt Marsh•Development •Structure•Common Plants and Adaptations

Development of a New England Salt Marsh

Establishment of a salt marsh• Low energy

environment• Accumulation of fine

sediments• Colonized by marsh

plants

Spartina alterniflora• Early colonizer also known

as a pioneer species• Binds anoxic mud together

stabilizing the sediment• Found along water’s edge

but not submerged completely

• Halophytic

Marsh haySpartina patens

SpikegrassDistichlis spicata

These two species are common to recently disturbed locations in the mid marsh.

Good colonizers and tolerant of anoxic mud and high salinity.

GlasswortSalicornia europaea

Sea lavenderLimonium nashii

Marsh asterAster tenuifolius

Marsh goldenrodSalidago semperviens

Common weedy plants in high marsh

Competition limits their distribution

Phragmites – usually the outer border of upper marsh

What is causing these patterns?

Mechanisms for Salt Tolerance

Salt Marsh Snail

Fiddler Crab

Mud Snail

Salt Marsh Meiofauna