Tidal freshwater marshes (TFMs) are unique ecosystems that bridge the gap between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and are important in the sequestration of soil organic carbon. With the ever changing global climate, TFMs are left vulnerable to downstream effects of rising sea level and salt water intrusion due to increases in flooding by saline waters. These changes often act over large spatial and temporal scales resulting in significant impacts to local and regional environments. This multidisciplinary study assessed the amount and lability of desorbed organic carbon in tidal freshwater marsh soils from the Waccamaw River Marsh, South Carolina and Sweet Hall, a marsh on the Pamunkey River, Virginia. Soils from each marsh were extracted at 0-35 practical salinity units (psu) and the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration, and carbon lability of the leachates were measured. At increasing levels of salinity, soil desorption amounts were higher in the Waccamaw River marsh interior and similar between the Waccamaw River creekbank and Sweet Hall levee. A larger fraction of desorbed DOC was consumed in the more organic soils from the Waccamaw River marsh in comparison to the more mineral soil from Sweet Hall Marsh. Finally, the rate of decay of the desorbed carbon was highest in the Sweet Hall levee soils, indicating more labile desorbed carbon, while the Waccamaw River Marsh soils had lower decay rates indicating less labile desorbed carbon. By understanding how salt water intrusion affects desorption and lability of soil organic carbon, in coastal marshes, we may be able to better understand how increasing sea levels may affect carbon storage in coastal ecosystems.

Les marais littoraux de Charente Maritime représentent des systèmes hydrauliques sur lesquels les données existantes sur la qualité de l’eau sont limitées. Ce déficit d’information représente un frein à la bonne gestion de ces écosystèmes. Leur situation intermédiaire entre continent et océan leur confère un rôle prépondérant au sein de ces entités. Par ailleurs, les marais représentent un patrimoine écologique majeur où le suivi du compartiment aquatique est indispensable en vue d’améliorer la connaissance et d’apprécier l’évolution de ces milieux.Dans ce cadre, un réseau de suivi de la qualité des eaux des marais a été mis en place sur la base du SEQ-Eau (système d’évaluation de la qualité des cours d’eaux) en 2003 par l’UNIMA (Union des Marais de Charente-Maritime) dans le but de créer un référentiel « marais »répondant aux exigences de la DCE (Directive Cadre sur l’Eau européenne). Mais avant d’apprécier la qualité des eaux des marais, il est nécessaire de comprendre leur fonctionnement. Les objectifs de la thèse sont de trois ordres. Le premier était de dégager une typologie de nature d’eau des marais en valorisant les données issues du suivi patrimonial de l’UNIMA. Dans un deuxième temps, le suivi analytique des eaux et du fonctionnement a été approfondi (ajout de paramètre chimique, biologique et géographique) sur un nombre restreint de stations.Une typologie, basée sur une méthode statistique permettant d’appréhender à la fois les variabilités spatiale et temporelle dans le classement des stations en groupes, est composé de 7 groupes en marais doux et de 5 en marais salés. Le suivi des marais pendant prés de 1,5ans par les paramètres de la matière organique, de l’ensemble des compartiments planctoniques constituant les réseaux trophiques planctoniques et la diversité fonctionnelle du phyto- et du méso-zooplancton, ont permis de confirmer un certain nombre d’hypothèses sur le fonctionnement des marais et sur la typologie de nature d’eau, concernant notamment : (i)le rôle écologique des marais, (ii) l’influence des écosystèmes adjacents du méta-écosystème Pertuis-charentais et (iii) leur capacité de résilience.Le fonctionnement des marais salés semble contrôlé par un double mécanisme : la marée et le type d’activité anthropique dans les bassins déterminant le taux de renouvellement des eaux qui conditionne le type de réseaux trophiques en place et leur succession. Dans les marais doux, un schéma ‘classique’ de la succession des réseaux trophiques planctoniques aété dégagé. La dominance du phytoplancton et des réseaux trophiques herbivores et multivores, semblerait cohérent avec les fonctions écologiques d’épuration et d’habitat/nourricerie caractéristiques des zones humides. Ce fonctionnement classique peut être altéré par différents mécanismes : le renouvellement de l’eau ou le développement des macrophytes. D’une part, le faible renouvellement d’eau de certains marais peut conduire à l’’emballement’ du système et provoquer des phénomènes d’eutrophisation, altérant les propriétés de l’écosystème (injection d’azote atmosphérique ou efficacité écotrophique). Enfin, les macrophytes sont plus compétitrices que le phytoplancton dans les milieux peu profond tel que les canaux de marais. Leur capacité a utilisé les nutriments des sédiments permette leur développement et empêche celui du phytoplancton (limitation par la lumière). La dégradation importante de la biomasse macrophytique par les bactéries en période estivale peut engendrer de fortes hypoxies.Quelques indicateurs basés sur des paramètres simples sont proposés pour suivre l’état trophique du système (chlorophylle par classe de taille, biomasse bactérienne), ou bien de repérer un état susceptible de virer sur une eutrophisation (espèces de rotifère spécifiques des périodes pré-eutrophisation). / Charente-Maritime marshes represent hydraulic systems on which available data on thewater quality are limited, preventing a good management of these ecosystems. As transitionalzones between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, marshes play a major role in ‘metaecosystems’.Furthermore, marshes represent a major ecological patrimony, thus the samplingof the aquatic compartment seems essential to improve their knowledge. A water qualitymonitoring program has been in place since spring 2003, developed by UNIMA (Union desMarais de Charente-Maritime) in order to create a “marshes standard” conform to the WFDprerogatives. A good understanding of the marshes functioning appears as necessary todevelop this standard. In this context, 3 main objectives rose for this thesis. The first one wasto realize a water body typology presenting different functioning on Charente-Maritimemarshes. The second one was to improve the understanding of marshes functioning throughthe study of the spatio-temporal variation of planktonic food webs. The last one was toevaluate the impact of a storm (Xynthia) on the planktonic resilience of the marshes.The statistical approach applied here had allowed us to define 7 fresh marshes typesand 5 salt marshes types. The sampling of the organic matter, the functional diversity ofplanktons and the food webs succession had confirmed hypothesis on marsh functioningrelated to the typology, particularly: (i) their ecological role, (ii) their influence on ecosystemscomposing the meta-ecosystem of Charente, (iii) their resilience capacity.Salt marshes planktonic food web functioning is controlled by a double mechanism:the tide and the anthropogenic activities in ponds determining the water renewal rate. In freshmarshes, a ‘classical’ pattern of the food web succession had been found. The dominance ofthe phytoplanktonic community and of the herbivorous and multivorous food webs seemed tobe in concordance with the classical ecological functions of wetlands such as their purificationcapacity and their habitat and nursery function. This classical succession can be altered bytwo mechanisms: the renewal rate inside the marsh and the macrophytes development. In onehand, the highly water stagnation of some marshes types can provoke eutrophicationphenomena destabilizing the ecosystem properties. In the other hand, macrophytes are morecompetitive than phytoplankton in shallow marsh channels, because of their capacity to usenutrient of the sediment. The important degradation of the macrophytes’ biomass duringsummer period by bacteria can generate strong hypoxia phenomena.Some indicators based on simple parameters had been proposed to follow the trophicstate of these systems (three-size classes of chlorophyll, bacteria biomass).

Thesis: Ph. D., Joint Program in Oceanography/Applied Ocean Science and Engineering (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), 2017. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references. / The marine carbon cycle plays an important role in regulating Earth's climate. The vastness of the open ocean and the large variability in the coastal ocean provide obstacles to accurately quantify storage and transport of inorganic carbon within marine ecosystems and between marine and other earth systems. Thus far, the open ocean has been the only true net sink of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (Canthro) emissions. However, ocean storage of Canthro is not uniformly distributed. Changes in water chemistry in the Northeast Pacific were quantified to estimate the amount of Canthro stored in this region over the last decade. This additional Canthro was found to cause acidification and aragonite saturation horizon shoaling at rates towards the higher end of those found in Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins, making the Northeast Pacific one of the most sensitive regions to the invasion of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Due to large variability in biogeochemical signals in coastal oceans, it is challenging to accurately assess carbon fluxes across different boundaries, such as tidal exchange between coastal wetlands and coastal oceans. Coastal salt marshes have been suggested to be a large net CO₂ sink, thus designated as a type of "blue carbon." However, accurate and dynamic estimates of carbon fluxes to and from tidal marshes are still premature, particularly carbon fluxes from marshes to the coastal ocean via tidal exchange, often referred to as marsh lateral fluxes. In this thesis, lateral total alkalinity (TA) and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) export fluxes were realistically quantified using high frequency time-series, in situ data. High-resolution fluxes permitted a closer look at how marsh generated TA and DIC are being exported over diurnal, spring-neap, and seasonal scales. I investigated the best way to capture variability of marsh exports via traditional bottle sampling and assessed uncertainties associated with different sampling strategies. Marsh TA and DIC exports significantly modified buffering capacity of coastal waters. This work contains the first realistic estimate of TA exports from a tidal salt marsh. Accurate estimates of DIC and TA fluxes indicate the significance of salt marshes to the coastal carbon and alkalinity budgets. / by Sophie Ning-Shin Chu. / Ph. D.

No description available.

Wetlands exchange significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4)---two major greenhouse gases (GHG), and thus have significant impacts on the Earth's climate. In this study, fluxes of CO2 and CH4 were measured in a cattail-dominated marsh in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Eddy covariance measurements of net ecosystem CO2 exchange (NEE) revealed that the marsh was an annual sink of 264 g C m-2, and that growing season net CO2 fluxes were strongly correlated with vegetation biomass and leaf area index. Fluxes of CH4 were measured from water, soil and plants using closed chambers and resulted in a net annual area-weighted emission from the marsh of 206 g C m-2. Consequently, the net (CO2 + CH4) annual carbon (C) balance of this wetland corresponded to a sink of 58 g C m-2. A simple radiative forcing model based on the marsh CO 2 and CH4 emission patterns suggests that, despite the net carbon uptake, this wetland is contributing to atmospheric warming because of the large CH4 efflux. Future potential climate impacts of this marsh were evaluated using different emission scenarios that could result in response to climatic or environmental changes. Overall, short-term impacts are driven by CH4 emission rate, while the CO2 flux determines the impacts on longer time horizons. Uncertainties in predicting future wetland GHG balance arise from uncertain feedbacks and responses. Future alterations of the marsh GHG emission and uptake patterns resulting from land use or climatic changes could lead to a shift in the marsh C balance, showing the importance of wetland ecosystems in national and global C budgets and GHG-related political decisions.

The upper Bay of Fundy's Cumberland Basin contains an estimated 16,500 hectares of salt marsh, nearly all of which have been diked and converted to agricultural lands since the arrival of the Acadians in the late 17 th century. John Lusby Marsh is a 600 ha salt marsh that was diked and farmed for approximately 250 years, until dikes breached in the late 1940s and the marsh was restored to tidal conditions. A sediment core that contained the reclamation surface was extracted in John Lusby Marsh, and a trial set of eight fossil pollen spectra was compared to the modern analogues. Discriminant analysis classified the fossil samples into a plausible sequence of historic land uses which included phases when the marsh was diked and farmed. A comparison of the soil characteristics and pollen spectra from this study to those in a previously published study of a nearby salt marsh at Amherst N.S. suggest that flooding of a dikeland was misinterpreted as a sudden increase in the rate of sea level rise. Historical air photos support this conclusion by showing that the sampling location was indeed diked and farmed before the 1940s.

In 1996, four cores (∼30 cm depth) were extracted from the high marsh zone of Dipper Harbour salt marsh in the Bay of Fundy. Soil bulk densities are shown to be controlled by mineral density and are higher than those reported for salt marshes in the northeastern United States. Examination of variations in mineral content suggests that regular tidal action and ice rafting deposits the majority of the mineral sediment to the high marsh zone. Dating techniques (based upon pollen, 137Cs, 210Pb and total Pb) were applied to selected cores, suggesting accretion rates from 0.25 to 0.31 cm yr-1 which are higher than the rates of local relative sea level rise. Correlation of trace metal densities (Cu, Fe, Pb and Zn) to Al densities were used to justify Al normalization. After consideration of natural sources and adsorption factors, the normalized Pb profiles are shown to reflect historical pollution levels of leaded gasoline consumption. Carbon storage values in the upper 25 cm of sediment range from 7.3--10.5 kg C m-2 and carbon accumulation rates vary from 95 to 124 g C m-2 yr-1, representing 15--29% of the salt marsh macrophyte productivity.

No description available.

Exploité depuis toujours, le sel a connu, au temps de la Gabelle notamment, des heures de gloire certaines, faisant de lui un métal blanc précieux, recherché et coûteux. Cependant, de nos jours, il est considéré comme un minéral essentiel, certes, mais aussi dangereux pour la santé si surconsommé. Ainsi, les paludiers d'aujourd’hui doivent mettre en avant le caractère authentique de leur produit et leur savoir-faire ancestral, symboles de qualité dans l'esprit des contemporains, pour réussir à maintenir leur activité et leur part de marché. L'objectif de cette étude était ainsi de définir des pistes qui garantiraient aux paludiers la protection de leur travail, par exemple dans le cadre d'une démarche d'appellation d'origine contrôlée ou protégée. Pour ce faire, un partenariat avec des sauniers de la Côte Atlantique Française (Ile de Ré, Ile de Noirmoutier, presqu'Ile de Guérande, salines de Saint-Armel) a permis de collecter divers échantillons (eaux des marais, sels). Dans un premier temps, une recherche de microorganismes et une étude sur les traces d'ADNr-16S présent sur les cristaux de sel, ont permis de caractériser une partie du microbiote halophile se développent au niveau des bassins de production du sel de mer, alors que leur teneur en sel peut aller jusqu'à 25 %. Dans un second temps, une recherche de composés volatils a été conduite afin de déterminer si l'environnement pouvait influencer l'empreinte olfactive des eaux des marais et du sel lors de sa formation et / ou de sa récolte. Un protocole d'extraction et d'analyses a été développé et a permis la mise en évidence d'un profil en composés volatils propre à chaque bassin. Parmi les composés volatils détectés, de nombreux norisoprénoïdes, provenant probablement de la dégradation de caroténoïdes produits par les microorganismes halophiles, ont ainsi été identifiés : pour le « bassin » Ile de Ré, 21 composés volatils ont été identifiés dont 8 composés dérivés des caroténoïdes (CDC) ; pour le « bassin » de Noirmoutier, 13 composés dont 7 CDC ; pour le « bassin » de Saint-Armel, 54 composés dont 25 CDC ; pour le « bassin » Guérandais, 19 composés dont 10 CDC.D'une façon générale, les résultats obtenus aussi bien d'un point de vue microbiologique que chimique, ont révélé une forte corrélation entre les marais salants et le sel qu'ils produisent : les microorganismes spécifiques d'un environnement laissent des empreintes sur les eaux et le sel, ce qui permettrait notamment aux paludiers de caractériser leur produit en vue d'une protection basée sur de véritables marqueurs propres à chaque marais (pour des origines distantes de quelques kilomètres, des différences sont déjà notables entre salines tant au niveau « odeur » qu'au niveau microbiote). / Salt has always been exploited in living memory. It has known its heyday at several occasions throughout history, particularly during the period of the French Gabelle, and therefore came to be seen as a precious white metal both sought after and expensive. Yet, nowadays, although it has been considered as an essential mineral, it has also turned up to be unhealthy when taken in excessive amounts. Consequently, salt workers of our day and age have to highlight the genuine nature of their product as well as their ancestral skills, for they both stand out as tokens of quality for our contemporaries. Meeting the expectations of the consumer is the only way for them to keep up with their work and maintain their share on the market. Thus, this study aimed to define ways for salt workers to have their work preserved, for instance throughout a Protected Designation of Origin. Therefore, a partnership with Atlantic French salt workers (from Ré Island, Noirmoutier, Guérande and Saint-Armel) has been established, allowing us to collect samples of salt marsh water and salts.First, an overview of microorganism population and 16S-rDNA in each water or salt sample permitted to define what kinds of microorganism populations were to be found in salt marshes. Secondly, a search for volatile components was led so as to determine whether the environment might affect the olfactory footprint of salt marshes and of salt itself during its formation and its harvest. A process of extraction and analysis has been developed, shedding light on a link between the origin and the olfactory footprint of salt. As an example, the halophilous microorganisms which are extremely rich in carotenoid (hence the red-orange colour of some marshes) are partly responsible for the presence of norisoprenoids in the volatile components which have been identified: 21 compounds were identified in Ré Island (including 8 norisoprenoids), 13 in Noirmoutier (including 7 norisoprenoids), 54 in Saint-Armel (including 25 norisoprenoids),19 in Guérande (including 10 norisoprenoids).For each area, DNA traces and volatile profiles were identified. Therefore, a strong link can be established between salt marshes and the salt they produce. It appears that the differences between salt flats regarding either their smell or their microbiota is always noteworthy, even when marshes are only a few miles apart. Thus, the specific pool of the identified microorganisms which leave prints on the salt would allow saltworkers to define their product so as to ensure a form of protection based on specific markers which are proper to each marsh.

Marshy soil and sediment samples were collected during dry and rainy seasons within Warri, and Agbarho, 20km away as control. Levels of 16 USEPA priority Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons PAHs were determined using GC-FID. Source prediction analysis was also done. The study was in Niger Delta region, Nigeria from January to March and June to August 2012 in dry and wet seasons. Benzo(a)pyrene had highest total concentration of 3.302mg/kg and mean value of 1.651mg/kg in dry season soil samples. However, sediment samples had highest levels for total concentration of PAHs of 19.362mg/kg and mean of 4.840mg/kg for both dry and rainy seasons within Warri. PAHs concentration was higher in dry than rainy seasons for soil and sediment samples. Source prediction analysis revealed that PAHs in sediments for dry season were pyrolytic while rainy seasons were petrogenic sources. For soils, the dry season was mixed sources while the rainy season was petrogenic. / Environmental Science / M. Sc. (Environmental Science)