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Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and Submerged...
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Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and Submerged Aquatic Ecosystems in an Age of Rapid Environmental Change – the Anthropocene

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Oceanography".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 21852

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Tracy Quirk

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Interests: wetland plant ecology; soil biogeochemistry; carbon cycling; coastal ecology; ecological restoration; environmental change
Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Cornwell

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory, University of Marylan, Cambridge, MA, USA
Interests: sediment biogeochemistry; nutrient, metal, and sulfur cycling; estuaries; coastal wetlands

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Coastal wetlands and submerged aquatic ecosystems play a critical role in cycling, transforming, and storing organic matter and nutrients. By maintaining and improving water quality, these coastal ecosystems facilitate the productivity and ecological function of submerged systems such as seagrass beds and oyster reefs. Understanding the magnitude and pathways of organic matter and nutrient processing within and among intertidal and subtidal systems with rapid environmental change allows us to better manage and restore these systems at larger spatial scales. Despite high rates of destruction and degradation, these systems are continuing to provide a disproportionate magnitude of ecological services that benefit society.

This Special Issue invites original research papers and critical reviews and assessments, including, but not limited to, the following topics under the broad umbrella of environmental change and coastal ecosystem organic matter and nutrient cycling:

Topics:

  • water quality;
  • nutrient transport and processing;
  • carbon cycling and sequestration;
  • anthropogenic stressors;
  • disturbance and resilience;
  • restoration and management;
  • climate change;
  • land-use change;

Dr. Tracy Quirk
Prof. Jeffrey Cornwell
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • tidal marshes
  • mangroves
  • seagrasses
  • oyster reefs
  • carbon
  • nutrients
  • climate change
  • restoration

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 183 KiB  
Editorial
Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and Submerged Aquatic Ecosystems in an Age of Rapid Environmental Change—The Anthropocene
by Tracy Elsey-Quirk and Jeffrey C. Cornwell
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(8), 1096; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10081096 - 11 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1555
Abstract
Coastal ecosystems, such as marshes, mangroves, seagrasses and estuaries, are biogeochemical hotspots, receiving and transforming organic matter and nutrients from terrestrial watersheds and the coastal ocean [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and Submerged Aquatic Ecosystems in an Age of Rapid Environmental Change – the Anthropocene)

Research

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20 pages, 2501 KiB  
Article
The Fate of Nitrogen in Dredged Material Used for Tidal Marsh Restoration
by Lorie W. Staver, Jeffrey C. Cornwell, Nicholas J. Nidzieko, Kenneth W. Staver, J. Court Stevenson, Michael Owens, Walter Boynton and Leysa Lopez-Gonzalez
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(8), 849; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9080849 - 6 Aug 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2335
Abstract
Tidal marsh restoration using dredged material is being undertaken in many coastal areas to replace lost habitat and ecosystem services due to tidal marsh loss. The fate of high levels of nitrogen (N) in fine-grained dredged material used as a substrate for marsh [...] Read more.
Tidal marsh restoration using dredged material is being undertaken in many coastal areas to replace lost habitat and ecosystem services due to tidal marsh loss. The fate of high levels of nitrogen (N) in fine-grained dredged material used as a substrate for marsh restoration is uncertain, but if exported tidally may cause subtidal habitat degradation. In this study, a mass balance was developed to characterize N fluxes in a two-year-old restored tidal marsh constructed with fine-grained dredged material at Poplar Island, MD, in Chesapeake Bay, and to evaluate the potential impact on the adjacent submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV) habitat. Denitrification and N accumulation in Spartina organic matter were identified as the major sinks (21.31 and 28.5 mg N m−2 d−1, respectively), while tidal export of TN was more modest (9.4 mg N m−2 d−1) and inorganic N export was low (1.59 mg N m−2 d−1). Internal cycling helped retain N within the marsh. Mineralization of N associated with labile organic matter in the dredged material was likely a large, but unquantified, source of N supporting robust plant growth and N exports. Exceedances of SAV water quality habitat requirements in the subtidal region adjacent to the marsh were driven by elevated Chesapeake Bay concentrations rather than enrichment by the marsh. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and Submerged Aquatic Ecosystems in an Age of Rapid Environmental Change – the Anthropocene)
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19 pages, 5636 KiB  
Article
Nitrogen Fixation in Subtropical Seagrass Sediments: Seasonal Patterns in Activity in Santa Rosa Sound, Florida, USA
by Rachel Presley and Jane M. Caffrey
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(7), 766; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9070766 - 14 Jul 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3475
Abstract
Seagrass beds are important coastal habitats that are diminishing globally. Nitrogen, a key nutrient, often limits seagrass growth. Nitrogen fixation provides new, bioavailable nitrogen to the plants. This study explores its importance and factors controlling rates in sediments colonized by two dominant taxa [...] Read more.
Seagrass beds are important coastal habitats that are diminishing globally. Nitrogen, a key nutrient, often limits seagrass growth. Nitrogen fixation provides new, bioavailable nitrogen to the plants. This study explores its importance and factors controlling rates in sediments colonized by two dominant taxa in Northwest Florida, Thalassia testudinum and Halodule wrightii, compared to unvegetated sediments. We hypothesized that nitrogen fixation rates would be greater in seagrass colonized sediments, particularly during high growth periods. We expected to observe a positive relationship between rates and porewater sulfide concentrations because sulfate reducers were the dominant diazotrophs in similar studies. Rates were higher in vegetated areas. In H. wrightii beds, nitrogen fixation was driven by the decreased availability of porewater ammonium relative to phosphorus. In T. testudinum beds, rates were highest during winter. Organic matter may be a controlling factor in all substrate types albeit the exact mechanism driving nitrogen fixation differs slightly. During the summer and fall, nitrogen fixation provided between 1–15% of T. testudinum nitrogen demand. Annually, nitrogen fixation provided 4% and 1% of T. testudinum and H. wrightii nitrogen demand, respectively. Nitrogen fixation was an important source of nitrogen during periods of senescence and dormancy when organic matter content was high. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and Submerged Aquatic Ecosystems in an Age of Rapid Environmental Change – the Anthropocene)
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13 pages, 3364 KiB  
Article
Contributions of Organic and Mineral Matter to Vertical Accretion in Tidal Wetlands across a Chesapeake Bay Subestuary
by Jenny R. Allen, Jeffrey C. Cornwell and Andrew H. Baldwin
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(7), 751; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9070751 - 6 Jul 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2369
Abstract
Persistence of tidal wetlands under conditions of sea level rise depends on vertical accretion of organic and inorganic matter, which vary in their relative abundance across estuarine gradients. We examined the relative contribution of organic and inorganic matter to vertical soil accretion using [...] Read more.
Persistence of tidal wetlands under conditions of sea level rise depends on vertical accretion of organic and inorganic matter, which vary in their relative abundance across estuarine gradients. We examined the relative contribution of organic and inorganic matter to vertical soil accretion using lead-210 (210Pb) dating of soil cores collected in tidal wetlands spanning a tidal freshwater to brackish gradient across a Chesapeake Bay subestuary. Only 8 out of the 15 subsites had accretion rates higher than relative sea level rise for the area, with the lowest rates of accretion found in oligohaline marshes in the middle of the subestuary. The mass accumulation of organic and inorganic matter was similar and related (R2 = 0.37). However, owing to its lower density, organic matter contributed 1.5–3 times more toward vertical accretion than inorganic matter. Furthermore, water/porespace associated with organic matter accounted for 82%–94% of the total vertical accretion. These findings demonstrate the key role of organic matter in the persistence of coastal wetlands with low mineral sediment supply, particularly mid-estuary oligohaline marshes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and Submerged Aquatic Ecosystems in an Age of Rapid Environmental Change – the Anthropocene)
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16 pages, 2434 KiB  
Article
Controls on Nutrient Cycling in Estuarine Mangrove Lake Sediments
by Michael S. Owens, Stephen P. Kelly, Thomas A. Frankovich, David T. Rudnick, James W. Fourqurean and Jeffrey C. Cornwell
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(6), 626; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9060626 - 4 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2604
Abstract
We estimated the net exchange of nitrogen and phosphorus species using core incubations under light and dark conditions in estuarine lakes that are the aquatic interface between the freshwater Everglades and marine Florida Bay. These lakes and adjacent shallow water Florida Bay environments [...] Read more.
We estimated the net exchange of nitrogen and phosphorus species using core incubations under light and dark conditions in estuarine lakes that are the aquatic interface between the freshwater Everglades and marine Florida Bay. These lakes and adjacent shallow water Florida Bay environments are sites where the restoration of hydrological flows will likely have the largest impact on salinity. Sediment respiration, measured by oxygen uptake, averaged (±S.D.) −2400 ± 1300, −300 ± 1000, and 1900 ± 1400 μmol m−2 h−1 for dark incubations, light incubations, and gross photosynthesis estimates, respectively, with dark incubations consistent with oxygen uptake measured by microelectrode profiles. Although most fluxes of soluble reactive phosphorus, nitrate, and N2–N were low under both light and dark incubation conditions, we observed a number of very high efflux events of NH4+ during dark incubations. A significant decrease in NH4+flux was observed in the light. The largest differences between light and dark effluxes of NH4+ occurred in lakes during periods of low coverage of the aquatic macrophyte Chara hornemannii Wallman, with NH4+ effluxes > 200 μmol m−2 h−1. Increasing freshwater flow from the Everglades is expected to expand lower salinity environments suitable for Chara, and therefore, diminish the sediment NH4+ effluxes that may fuel algal blooms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and Submerged Aquatic Ecosystems in an Age of Rapid Environmental Change – the Anthropocene)
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19 pages, 2848 KiB  
Article
Lagoon Biogeochemical Processing is Reflected in Spatial Patterns of Sediment Stable Isotopic Ratios
by Elizabeth Burke Watson, Alejandro Hinojosa-Corona, Johannes R. Krause, Juan Carlos Herguera, Julianna McDonnell, Karen Raquel Villegas Manríquez, Michelle E. Gannon and Andrew B. Gray
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2020, 8(11), 874; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse8110874 - 3 Nov 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2428
Abstract
The spatial analysis of biota, particulate organic matter, and sediments for stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N), and sulfur (δ34S) have proved useful for identifying patterns in productivity, nutrient pollution, and relationships between biological and physiochemical [...] Read more.
The spatial analysis of biota, particulate organic matter, and sediments for stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C), nitrogen (δ15N), and sulfur (δ34S) have proved useful for identifying patterns in productivity, nutrient pollution, and relationships between biological and physiochemical variables at the local and global scales. Yet such approaches are rarely applied to studies of lagoon or estuarine metabolism. Focusing on Bahía San Quintín, a heterotrophic seagrass-dominated lagoon on the Pacific coast of Baja California, México, we report on spatial patterns in surficial sediment CNS stable isotopic ratios as tracers of lagoon biogeochemical function. Stable nitrogen isotopes highlighted potential spatial variability in the balance between denitrification and nitrogen-fixation within the lagoon and identified an association between elevated δ15N levels and oyster culture, suggesting that oyster presence may be enhancing N2 production. Spatial patterns in δ34S covaried with sediment particle size, underlining the importance of sediment texture in determining the depth of sub-oxic-anoxic redox zones. Sediment carbon stable isotope ratios highlighted the lack of incorporation of seagrass carbon into seagrass meadow sediments, thus emphasizing the importance of phytoplankton or microphytobenthos for carbon accumulation in seagrass meadows. This report highlights the value of sediment isotopic values in corroborating spatial patterns in estuarine metabolism or macronutrient processing identified from chamber or flux-based studies. Stable isotope mapping can provide a useful addition to assessment of estuarine metabolism, or act as a stand-alone tool for generating hypotheses, identifying the influence of spatial gradients, and/or suggesting prime locations for investigation of microbial abundance or function. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and Submerged Aquatic Ecosystems in an Age of Rapid Environmental Change – the Anthropocene)
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Review

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26 pages, 2009 KiB  
Review
Macro- and Micronutrient Cycling and Crucial Linkages to Geochemical Processes in Mangrove Ecosystems
by Daniel M. Alongi
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2021, 9(5), 456; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse9050456 - 22 Apr 2021
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 5563
Abstract
High mangrove productivity is sustained by rapid utilization, high retention efficiency and maximum storage of nutrients in leaves, roots, and soils. Rapid microbial transformations and high mineralization efficiencies in tandem with physiological mechanisms conserve scarce nutrients. Macronutrient cycling is interlinked with micronutrient cycling; [...] Read more.
High mangrove productivity is sustained by rapid utilization, high retention efficiency and maximum storage of nutrients in leaves, roots, and soils. Rapid microbial transformations and high mineralization efficiencies in tandem with physiological mechanisms conserve scarce nutrients. Macronutrient cycling is interlinked with micronutrient cycling; all nutrient cycles are linked closely to geochemical transformation processes. Mangroves can be N-, P-, Fe-, and Cu-limited; additions of Zn and Mo stimulate early growth until levels above pristine porewater concentrations induce toxicity. Limited nutrient availability is caused by sorption and retention onto iron oxides, clays, and sulfide minerals. Little N is exported as immobilization is the largest transformation process. Mn and S affect N metabolism and photosynthesis via early diagenesis and P availability is coupled to Fe-S redox oscillations. Fe is involved in nitrification, denitrification and anammox, and Mo is involved in NO3− reduction and N2-fixation. Soil Mg, K, Mn, Zn and Ni pool sizes decrease as mangrove primary productivity increases, suggesting increasing uptake and more rapid turnover than in less productive forests. Mangroves may be major contributors to oceanic Mn and Mo cycles, delivering 7.4–12.1 Gmol Mn a−1 to the ocean, which is greater than global riverine input. The global Mo import rate by mangroves corresponds to 15–120% of Mo supply to the oceanic Mo budget. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organic Matter and Nutrient Cycling in Coastal Wetlands and Submerged Aquatic Ecosystems in an Age of Rapid Environmental Change – the Anthropocene)
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