Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve

22 Jul, 11 PM - 17 Aug, 10 AM

Southern California salt marshes face threats from a number of anthropogenic influences, including climate change and changes in tidal flushing, that may even drive salt marshes to shift to alternative stable states. Alternative stable states have been shown to occur in Arctic salt marshes, but their existence in other salt marshes has not been studied. Because changed tidal flushing is a human impact that can drastically alter species composition by affecting environmental conditions, it may be a driver of alternative stable states. To better understand how tidal flushing affects salt marsh plants and invertebrates, I will set up transects at Carpinteria salt marsh, as well as several other southern California salt marshes, to determine how community composition changes across a gradient of tidal heights in marshes with and without tidal flushing. I will measure plant and invertebrate community composition as well as environmental variables such as soil salinity, redox potential, and temperature. I will use these data to determine the environmental conditions under which changes in plant type and invertebrate community composition occur and whether different communities can exist under the same environmental conditions. The latter may indicate the existence of alternative stable states in southern California salt marshes and will help elucidate the mechanism that drives these alternative states. Understanding the mechanism will be useful for preventing shifts to alternative stable states and determining the best management strategy to return to the preferred stable state.

Visit #29096 @Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 25574 | Research

Environmental conditions associated with salt marsh plant zones-possible existence of alternative stable states?

graduate_student - University of California, San Diego

Reservation Members(s)

Akana Noto Jul 22 - Aug 17, 2012 (27 days)
Group of 2 Research Assistant (non-student/faculty/postdoc) Jul 22 - Aug 17, 2012 (27 days)

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