Login | Datasets | Logout
 

View Community Concepts - Detail

NY Heritage: Low salt marsh | Ecological Communities of New York, 2nd Ed.
  click to update datacart
Name: NY Heritage: Low salt marsh
Reference: Ecological Communities of New York, 2nd Ed.
Description: A coastal marsh community that occurs in sheltered areas of the seacoast, in a zone extending from mean high tide down to mean sea level or to about 2 m (6 ft) below mean high tide. It is regularly flooded by semidiurnal tides. The mean tidal range of low salt marshes on Long Island is about 80 cm, and they often form in basins with a depth of 1.6 m or greater. The vegetation of the low salt marsh is a nearly monospecific stand of cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), a coarse grass that grows up to about 3 m (10 ft) tall. Salt marshes with large tidal ranges are often dominated by the tall form of Spartina alterniflora, while those with more restricted tidal ranges will maintain a short form Spartina alterniflora zone and grade into high salt marsh (Niedowski 2000). A few species of marine algae can form dense mats on the surface sediments between the cordgrass stems, including knotted wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum), and rockweed (Fucus vesiculosus); sea lettuce (Ulva spp.), and hollow green weeds (Enteromorpha spp.) can be abundant, especially in early summer. Other plants that are present in very low numbers include glassworts (Salicornia europaea, S. bigelovii), salt marsh sand-spurry (Spergularia marina), and sea blites (Suaeda spp.). Characteristic animals include clapper rail (Rallus longirostris), willet (Catoptrophorus semipalmatus), marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris), seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus), fiddler crabs (Uca pugilator and U. pugnax) nesting along creek banks, ribbed mussel (Geukensia dimissa), and at high tide mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), and several other small fishes that live in the tidal creeks at low tide. The low salt marsh is one zone within a coastal salt marsh ecosystem; it occurs in a mosaic with several other communities. Low salt marsh grades into high salt marsh at slightly higher elevations, and into intertidal mudflats at slightly lower elevations. Tidal creeks that drain the salt marsh flow in a sinuous pattern through the marsh, with a narrow band of low marsh lining the banks of the tidal creeks. Shallow depressions, or pannes, may also occur in the low marsh. 
Accession Code: VB.CC.28731.NYHERITAGELOWSA
Plot-observations of this Community Concept: 4
      Party Perspective according to: Howard, Timothy
Perspective from: 03-Dec-2004 to: ongoing
      Names:   Other: NY Heritage: Low salt marsh