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
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