s2ary
09-09-2007, 08:42 AM
Tides exchange nutrients and bait between the marshand the nearshore waters.
In New England there are two tides a day for a total of 730 tides per year.
50% of the tides are Spring Tides meaning they flood over the creek banks and cover the surface of the marsh.
50% are Neap Tides meaning they do not flood across the surface of the marsh and the water only fills the channels and rills.
730 times a year a tide cycle will flush out from the salt marshes and across the mud flats. As the water crosses the mud flat, clams and other benthic organisms siphon out detritus (organic matter) to feed on while they excrete an almost pure nitrogen fertilizer into the water column. After the nitrogen enriched water passes over the mud flats it leaves the intertidal area and enters the near shore waters. Out in the near shore waters the enriched waters feed phytoplankton, the starting blocks of the near shore food web. Phytoplankton is fed upon by zooplankton, and zooplankton is fed upon by small fish, smaller fish become food for big fish and eventually the detritus that washed from the salt marsh becomes food for you in the form of a larger fish.
When the tide turns and starts to flow back into the marshes the water is again fertilized by the benthic organisms that live in the mud flat and the enriched waters flow back into the marsh. Once in the marsh the tidal channels and ditches distribute the nutrients like the arterial system in your body, if a marsh is adequately channelized the peat soaks up the enriched tidal water and the plants are fertilized twice a day. If the marsh is dammed, plugged, or restricted the plants may only receive nutrients a handful of times each month. The marsh is so efficient at extracting the fertilizer from the water column that approximately 85% of the nitrogen is stripped from the water on each tide cycle.
• +/- 80% of the water flushed from a marsh can return on the next tide cycle.
• 85% of the soluble Nitrogen (ammonium nitrate) is absorbed from the water column by a salt marsh plants
• The peak periods of salt marsh nutrient export occurs during the spring and fall oceanic migration periods. These nutrients fuel the phytoplankton food web during the peak migration periods.
• Aerobic marshes (marshes with groundwater elevations below 20cm of the marsh surface) produce 100grams of Carbon per square meter each year
• Anaerobic (saturated) marshes produce only 7 grams of Carbon per square meter each year, and often become Carbon sinks. (traps) Since carbon is a basic building block for life it is important that our mashes remain free flowing.
In New England there are two tides a day for a total of 730 tides per year.
50% of the tides are Spring Tides meaning they flood over the creek banks and cover the surface of the marsh.
50% are Neap Tides meaning they do not flood across the surface of the marsh and the water only fills the channels and rills.
730 times a year a tide cycle will flush out from the salt marshes and across the mud flats. As the water crosses the mud flat, clams and other benthic organisms siphon out detritus (organic matter) to feed on while they excrete an almost pure nitrogen fertilizer into the water column. After the nitrogen enriched water passes over the mud flats it leaves the intertidal area and enters the near shore waters. Out in the near shore waters the enriched waters feed phytoplankton, the starting blocks of the near shore food web. Phytoplankton is fed upon by zooplankton, and zooplankton is fed upon by small fish, smaller fish become food for big fish and eventually the detritus that washed from the salt marsh becomes food for you in the form of a larger fish.
When the tide turns and starts to flow back into the marshes the water is again fertilized by the benthic organisms that live in the mud flat and the enriched waters flow back into the marsh. Once in the marsh the tidal channels and ditches distribute the nutrients like the arterial system in your body, if a marsh is adequately channelized the peat soaks up the enriched tidal water and the plants are fertilized twice a day. If the marsh is dammed, plugged, or restricted the plants may only receive nutrients a handful of times each month. The marsh is so efficient at extracting the fertilizer from the water column that approximately 85% of the nitrogen is stripped from the water on each tide cycle.
• +/- 80% of the water flushed from a marsh can return on the next tide cycle.
• 85% of the soluble Nitrogen (ammonium nitrate) is absorbed from the water column by a salt marsh plants
• The peak periods of salt marsh nutrient export occurs during the spring and fall oceanic migration periods. These nutrients fuel the phytoplankton food web during the peak migration periods.
• Aerobic marshes (marshes with groundwater elevations below 20cm of the marsh surface) produce 100grams of Carbon per square meter each year
• Anaerobic (saturated) marshes produce only 7 grams of Carbon per square meter each year, and often become Carbon sinks. (traps) Since carbon is a basic building block for life it is important that our mashes remain free flowing.