Polysaccharide Addition Effects on Rhizosphere Nitrogen Fixation Rates of the California Cordgrass, Spartina foliosa

Low nutrient availability in salt marsh ecosystems can potentially limit primary productivity and subsequent carbon export to coastal waters. In temperate marshes with low external nitrogen inputs, nitrogen (N2) fixation may enhance availability of usable nitrogen to marsh plant communities and incr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) N.C.), 2009-09, Vol.29 (3), p.1063-1069
Main Authors: Cohen, Risa A., Walker, Katelyn, Carpenter, Edward J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
alginate
Alginates
Alginic acid
Aquatic plants
Availability
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Carbon
Coastal Sciences
Coastal waters
Ecology
Environmental Management
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Hydrogeology
Landscape Ecology
Life Sciences
N2 fixation
Nitrogen
Nitrogen fixation
Nitrogenation
Nutrient availability
nutrients
organic matter
Plant communities
Plant growth
Polysaccharides
Rhizosphere
Saccharides
salt marsh
Salt marshes
Sediment control
Sediments
Soil amendment
Soil surfaces
Spartina foliosa
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Summary:Low nutrient availability in salt marsh ecosystems can potentially limit primary productivity and subsequent carbon export to coastal waters. In temperate marshes with low external nitrogen inputs, nitrogen (N2) fixation may enhance availability of usable nitrogen to marsh plant communities and increase their growth. The effects of sub-surface soil amendment of polysaccharides on rhizosphere N2 fixation, and on plant growth and tissue characteristics of the California cordgrass, Spartina foliosa, were tested in microcosms in a tidal simulator. Polysaccharide was added as alginate extract, and rhizosphere N2 fixation and plant characteristics were measured over 9 weeks. N2 fixation rates increased 10-fold in the alginate treatment compared to controls after 1 week of exposure as a result of increased availability of a readily usable form of carbon. N2 fixation rates in amended sediment were significantly higher than rates in control sediments at weeks 1 and 3. Although plant characteristics did not differ between treatments, trends of increased number of leaves and shoots in amended plants compared to controls appeared between weeks 7 and 9. The potential for increased plant growth following an increase in N2 fixation rates warrants further investigation as it may have implications for recovery of N-limited disturbed and restored salt marshes.
ISSN:0277-5212
1943-6246
DOI:10.1672/08-170.1