Marsh Function

Marsh function: developing quantitative assessment measures for created saltmarshes

Jinx Campbell, Mark Peterson, Chet Rakocinski, Heather Ferguson, Allison Kennedy, Alix Guidry, Bruce Comyns

Department of Coastal Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi, Gulf Coast Research Lab, Ocean Springs, MS

Background

Saltmarshes provide important habitats for many species of fish, invertebrates, wading birds and other megafauna. Additionally saltmarshes may help clean coastal waters, protect reefs by binding sediments, and provide coastal defense from erosion and hurricanes. These habitats, however, are declining worldwide primarily due to human-induced disturbances. In an attempt to counteract these losses, marsh restoration efforts have increased dramatically, but studies have shown that created marshes do not always perform at the same level as natural marshes. Our goal was to develop quantitative assessment metrics using different indicators of habitat function including sedimentation, nekton, infaunal invertebrates and fungi. For our initial study we sampled from one natural site and one site that was created from dredge spoil around 26 years ago.