Comparison of Nekton Use for Cordgrass <Emphasis Type="Italic">Spartina alterniflora</Emphasis> and Bulrush <Emphasis Type="Italic">Scirpus mariqueter</Emphasis> Marshes in the Yangtze River Estuary,China

To test whether invasive Spartina alterniflora marshes were functionally equivalent to native Scirpus mariqueter marshes, the present study used bottomless lift nets (20 m²) during 12 high-tide events from August to October 2008 to compare nekton densities and biomass between the two marsh types in the Dongtan wetland. A total of eight species of fish, two species of shrimp, and three species of crab were collected. So-iny mullet Chelon haematocheilus, keeled mullet Liza carinata, Asian freshwater goby Acanthogobius ommaturus, and ridge-tail prawn Exopalaemon carinicauda dominated samples from the two marsh types and accounted for over 90% of the total catch. There were significantly greater densities and biomass (p < 0.05) of total nekton (all species combined) and two mullets (C. haematocheilus and L. carinata) in S. alterniflora marshes than in S. mariqueter marshes in August 2008, while no significant differences (p > 0.05) between the two marsh types were observed for densities and biomass of any species or total nekton in September and October 2008. Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination did not show clear separation of samples between the two marsh types (r = 0.071, p = 0.159). Furthermore, there were no habitat-specific differences (p > 0.05) in the size distributions of the three numerically dominant species (C. haematocheilus, L. carinata, and A. ommaturus). We concluded that S. alterniflora marshes were utilized by nekton in a fashion similar to their utilization of native S. mariqueter marshes under similar physical conditions.     

New thermoelastic parameters of natural <Emphasis Type="Italic">C</Emphasis>2/<Emphasis Type="Italic">c</Emphasis> omphacite

The compressibility at room temperature and the thermal expansion at room pressure of two disordered crystals (space group C2/c) obtained by annealing a natural omphacite sample (space group P2/n) of composition close to Jd₅₆Di₄₄ and Jd₅₅Di₄₅, respectively, have been studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Using a Birch–Murnaghan equation of state truncated at the third order [BM3-EoS], we have obtained the following coefficients: V ₀ = 421.04(7) Å³, K _T0 = 119(2) GPa, K′ = 5.7(6). A parameterized form of the BM3 EoS was used to determine the axial moduli of a, b and c. The anisotropy scheme is β _c  ≤ β _a  ≤ β _b , with an anisotropy ratio 1.05:1.00:1.07. A fitting of the lattice variation as a function of temperature, allowing for linear dependency of the thermal expansion coefficient on the temperature, yielded α_V(1bar,303K) = 2.64(2) × 10⁻⁵ K⁻¹ and an axial thermal expansion anisotropy of α _b  ≫ α _a  > α _c . Comparison of our results with available data on compressibility and thermal expansion shows that while a reasonable ideal behaviour can be proposed for the compressibility of clinopyroxenes in the jadeite–diopside binary join [K _T0 as a function of Jd molar %: K _T0 = 106(1) GPa + 0.28(2) × Jd_(mol%)], the available data have not sufficient quality to extract the behaviour of thermal expansion for the same binary join in terms of composition.     

The Intertidal Burrowing Crab <Emphasis Type="Italic">Neohelice</Emphasis> (=<Emphasis Type="Italic">Chasmagnathus</Emphasis>) <Emphasis Type="Italic">granulata</Emphasis> Positively Affects Foraging of Rodents in South Western Atlantic Salt Marshes

The role of positive and indirect interactions is often crucial in communities with intense abiotic stress such as salt marshes. The burrowing crab, Neohelice (=Chasmagnathus) granulata, is the dominant benthic macroinvertebrate of southwest Atlantic marshes (southern Brazil to Northern Argentinean Patagonia), having strong direct and indirect effects on marsh soil and, in consequence, on marsh vegetation and primary consumers. In this work, we investigate if this crab indirectly modifies habitat use by the granivorous rodents, Akodon azarae and Oligoryzomys flavescens, by increasing nutrient availability and thus enhancing seed production by the marsh plant Spartina densiflora. The study was conducted at the Mar Chiquita Coastal Lagoon, Argentina (37°32′ S). Rodent frequencies in S. densiflora were positively correlated with crab densities throughout the low and middle marsh. Additionally, the highest quality of S. densiflora and inflorescence density was recorded at the highest crab densities. Experimental manipulation of crab densities shows that N. granulata indirectly enhances the performance of S. densiflora (e.g., decreased fiber content and C/N ratios) and increases density of seeds. Moreover, N. granulata also facilitates S. densiflora seed availability to rodents by concentrating them in sediment mound at their burrows entrances. Experimental rodent exclusions showed that rodent species used S. densiflora seeds, a variable positively related to crab burrow density. Thus, our results show that N. granulata drives the granivorous rodent distribution and the intensity of seeds–rodent interaction trough facilitative and indirect interactions in marsh community.     

Seasonal,Diel, and Landscape Effects on Resource Partitioning between Juvenile Chinook Salmon (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oncorhynchus tshawytscha</Emphasis>) and Threespine Stickleback (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gasterosteus aculeatus</Emphasis>) in the Columbia River Estuary

The objective of this study was to determine if exploitative competition between between juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) reduces the foraging opportunity of juvenile Chinook salmon in tidal channels of the Columbia River estuary. We sampled Chinook salmon and stickleback diets monthly and over a diel cycle in spatially distinct emergent marshes of the Columbia River estuary. Diets of the two fish species did not differ among marsh systems, but both fish species exhibited diel and seasonal differences in diet composition. Diet overlap between the two fish species was greatest in March and June. Exploitative competition was unlikely based on a comparison between consumption rates and estimated invertebrate production.     

Evaluation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">smtA</Emphasis> expression and <Emphasis Type="Italic">E. coli</Emphasis> survival against cadmium ions

Cadmium and other heavy metals lead to environmental danger, and these heavy metals are a great threat to human and other animal’s health. Investigation of the relationship between survival of E. coli and metallothionein smtA gene expression against cadmium ion is the goal of this research. Survival of recombinant bacteria containing smtA gene was analyzed against various concentrations of cadmium chloride salt using optical density (OD). At the resistive range, recombinant bacteria were subjected to different treatments. At the logarithmic phase of bacterial growth, sampling, RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were performed and smtA gene expression was then analyzed by real-time PCR using designed primers for smtA gene and Amp resistance (as the calibrator gene). Relative gene expression was calculated using the ??C_t method. The resistive range against cadmium chloride was 0.5–0.7 mM (minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC = 0.5 mM)). Survival and gene expression analysis showed that in induced bacteria, smtA expression was increased significantly that in turn conferred resistance to cadmium chloride prominently. There was a direct relationship between increased smtA gene expression and survival of the recombinant bacteria. Therefore, our result may help to confront to cadmium metal environmental pollution using overexpression of smtA gene expression in recombinant bacteria.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">An </Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">Inconvenient Truth</Emphasis>: a focus on its portrayal of the hydrologic cycle

An Inconvenient Truth (AIT) has earned Al Gore an Oscar and a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and has been widely acclaimed by the mass media. However, significant errors exist in the film, owing to alarmism and exaggeration. As this forum does not provide for a detailed examination of these errors, this paper will focus only on the portrayal of the hydrologic cycle by AIT—precipitation and floods, soil moisture and droughts, and storminess. AIT argues that precipitation and intense rainfalls, floods, droughts, and the total number, intensity, and duration of tropical cyclones have all increased due exclusively to anthropogenically-driven climate change; indeed, AIT paints a picture of near scientific certainty with an overwhelming bias toward catastrophe scenarios. A closer look at the science, however, reveals that the data do not support these claims and that the scientific community is divided as to what the impact of anthropogenic climate change on the hydrologic cycle will be. Thus, the film gives a false impression of both the current state of climate change and that ‘the science is settled’.

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Deepwater Horizon</Emphasis> Oil Spill Impacts on Salt Marsh Fiddler Crabs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Uca</Emphasis> spp.)

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the largest marine oil spill in US waters to date and one of the largest worldwide. Impacts of this spill on salt marsh vegetation have been well documented, although impacts on marsh macroinvertebrates have received less attention. To examine impacts of the oil spill on an important marsh invertebrate and ecosystem engineer, we conducted a meta-analysis on fiddler crabs (Uca spp.) using published sources and newly available Natural Resources Damage Assessment (NRDA) and Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) data. Fiddler crabs influence marsh ecosystem structure and function through their burrowing and feeding activities and are key prey for a number of marsh and estuarine predators. We tested the hypothesis that the spill affected fiddler crab burrow density (crab abundance), burrow diameter (crab size), and crab species composition. Averaged across multiple studies, sites, and years, our synthesis revealed a negative effect of oiling on all three metrics. Burrow densities were reduced by 39 % in oiled sites, with impacts and incomplete recovery observed over 2010–2014. Burrow diameters were reduced from 2010 to 2011, but appeared to have recovered by 2012. Fiddler crab species composition was altered through at least 2013 and only returned to reference conditions where marsh vegetation recovered, via restoration planting in one case. Given the spatial and temporal extent of data analyzed, this synthesis provides compelling evidence that the Deepwater Horizon spill suppressed populations of fiddler crabs in oiled marshes, likely affecting other ecosystem attributes, including marsh productivity, marsh soil characteristics, and associated predators.     

Ecophysiology of the Olympia Oyster, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ostrea lurida</Emphasis>, and Pacific Oyster, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Crassostrea gigas</Emphasis>

The native Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida, was once abundant in many US Pacific Northwest (PNW) estuaries, but was decimated by human activity in the late nineteenth early to twentieth centuries. Having been the subject of only few modern, detailed studies, a dearth of basic physiological information surrounded O. lurida and how it compared to the now dominant, non-native Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. Utilizing laboratory and in situ studies in Yaquina Bay, OR, we explored the clearance rates of both species across a wide range of conditions. Pacific oysters not only had greater size-specific clearance rates than Olympia oysters, but also had a lower optimum temperature. Clearance rates for both species were reduced at lower salinity, at lower organic content, and at higher turbidity. Clearance rate models were constructed for each species using three approaches: (1) a single mechanistic model that incorporated feeding response functions of each species to the effects of temperature, salinity, turbidity, and seston organic content based on laboratory studies; (2) another additive model in which the number and type of response functions from laboratory studies were allowed to vary; and (3) a statistical model that utilized environmental data collected during in situ feeding trials. Clearance rate models that correlated feeding activity with in situ environmental data were found to often better predict oyster clearance rates (based on Adj R ²) for both species in Yaquina Bay, OR, than mechanistic, additive models based on laboratory feeding response functions; however, in situ correlative models varied in accuracy by species and season. This work represents important first steps towards better understanding the physiological ecology of the native Olympia oyster and how it differs from introduced and now dominant Pacific oyster.     

Feeding Behavior of the Native Mussel <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ischadium recurvum</Emphasis> and the Invasive Mussels <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mytella charruana</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Perna viridis</Emphasis> in FL,USA, Across a Salinity Gradient

The feeding behavior of three species of mussels, the native Ischadium recurvum and the invasives Mytella charruana and Perna viridis, was studied in an invaded ecosystem in Florida (USA). In situ feeding experiments using the biodeposition method were performed along a salinity gradient in four different locations along the St. Johns River. Water characteristics, such as salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and seston loads, were recorded to identify relationships between these variables and the feeding behavior of the mussels. Feeding behavior of the species varied by study site. Clearance, filtration, organic ingestion, and absorption rates of I. recurvum were negatively affected by salinity. For the invasive mussel, M. charruana, rejection was positively related to salinity while total ingestion, organic ingestion, and absorption rates were positively related to the percentage of organic matter in the seston. For P. viridis, total and organic ingestion rates were negatively affected by salinity but positively affected by total particulate matter. Condition indices for P. viridis and M. charruana were 13.16?±?0.64 and 6.63?±?0.43, respectively, compared to 4.82?±?0.41 for the native species I. recurvum, indicating that these mussels are well adapted to the environmental conditions in the area. This study indicates that the three species have different preferred habitats because of their specific responses to water characteristics. Thus, the invasive mussels will not totally occupy the niche of the native mussel in Florida despite overlapping zones. These data may help identify potential invaded areas and understand the extent of the invasion.     

Life and death of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccocoma tenella</Emphasis> (G<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">oldfuss</Emphasis>)

The morphology of the small stalkless Saccocoma tenella is unique among crinoids. It is characterized by an extremely light skeleton with dish-like lateral wings on the proximal brachials and peculiar paired vertical processes flanking the food grooves of more distal brachials. The arms are heavily branched. The lateral wings obviously were involved in vertical movement. For the vertical processes a “baffle rail” function for arm curling and “snap swimming” has been postulated, with muscles between the processes. However, there is no evidence that the processes were connected by muscles. For food collection a “pulsating funnel” model in the water column is advocated, with the processes serving to collect plankton during upward movement of the arms. The resulting mouth-up position is supported by the biostratinomy. Saccocoma tenella is considered to have been pelagic, a benthic lifestyle is rejected on ecologic and taphonomic grounds. Adorally-curled arms are considered a reaction to hostile environment before death, not a taphonomic artefact.     

Foraging by Two Estuarine Fishes, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fundulus heteroclitus</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fundulus majalis</Emphasis>, on Juvenile Asian Shore Crabs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Hemigrapsus sanguineus</Emphasis>) in Western Long Island Sound

The Asian shore crab, Hemigrapsus sanguineus, is a recent and particularly successful introduction to the east coast of the USA. Little research has been done on the utilization of Asian shore crabs for food by native species, a potential form of biocontrol. Over a 4-year period, we examined the gut contents of cogeners, Fundulus heteroclitus and Fundulus majalis, collected from two embayments in western Long Island Sound for the presence of juvenile H. sanguineus. Frequency (percent) of occurrence of food items in the guts of both species varied over year and study site. Asian shore crabs were consumed more often by F. heteroclitus than by F. majalis, but predation pressure by both species was low. Only 13% of F. heteroclitus and 7.7% of F. majalis found with food in their guts had ingested Asian shore crab remains. Of those, 1/3 had consumed whole crabs; the rest had only autotomized appendages in their guts. The mean carapace width of juvenile Asian shore crabs ingested by F. heteroclitus was 3.59 ± 2.22 mm (N = 33). Results of our study on killifish predation support the hypothesis that H. sanguienus abundance is partly explained by reduced impact of native predators (i.e., the “enemy release hypothesis”). Predation pressure of other potential enemies on both planktonic and benthic stages of the Asian shore crab must be investigated, however, to understand the full impact of predation on H. sanguineus population dynamics.     

Mechanisms of marsh habitat alteration due to<Emphasis Type="Italic">Phragmites</Emphasis>: Response of young-of-the-year mummichog (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Fundulus heteroclitus</Emphasis>) to treatment for<Emphasis Type="Italic">Phragmites</Emphasis> removal

In recent decades, marshes naturally dominated bySpartina spp. have been replaced byPhragmites australis throughout the northeastern United States. We suggest that early in this invasion there was little effect on the fish fauna. As the invasion proceeds, the marsh surface habitat became more altered (i.e., elevated, flattened, reduced water-filled depressions, and reduced standing water), which resulted in a reduction of feeding, reproduction, and nursery function for fishes, especiallyFundulus spp. These potential changes in marsh habitat and function have resulted in numerous attempts to removePhragmites and restoreSpartina spp. To evaluate the response of marsh surface fishes toPhragmites treatment, we examined fish use in the brackish water reaches of Alloway Creek in the Delaware Bay estuary. ReferencePhragmites habitats were compared with referenceSpartina alterniflora-dominated habitats and sites treated (1996–1998) to removePhragmites to restore former vegetation (i.e., restored, now comprised of 100%Spartina). Fish were sampled with an array (n=9 at each site) of shallow pit traps (rectangular glass dishes, 27.5×17.5×3.7 cm). Small individuals (mean=17.5, 5–45 mm TL) dominated all pit trap collections. Fish abundance was highest at the restored (catch per unit effort [CPUE]=2.16) andSpartina (CPUE=0.81) sites with significantly lower values atPhragmites (CPUE=0.05) habitats. Samples were dominated by young-of-the-year mummichog,Fundulus heteroclitus (98% of total fish, n=631). The only other fish species collected was spotfin killifish,Fundulus luciae (2% of total catch, n=14), which was only present in restored andSpartina habitats. These observations suggest that the restored marsh is providing habitat (water-filled depressions on the marsh surface) for young-of-the-yearFundulus spp. These marshes are responding favorably to the restoration based on the much greater abundance of fish in restored versusPhragmites habitats and the overall similarity between restored andSpartina habitats.     

Discovery of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Elephas</Emphasis> cf. <Emphasis Type="Italic">namadicus</Emphasis> from the late Pleistocene strata of Marginal Ganga Plain

We describe an elephant skull recovered from a cliff section of Dhasan river of Marginal Ganga Plain. The dental morphology and cranial features of the skull have been compared with the known species of Elephas from the Indian subcontinent. Although it shows very near resemblance to Elephas namadicus, but being an isolated specimen its specific identity cannot be proclaimed with certainty. As such, the specimen is provisionally referred as E. cf. namadicus. The Optically Stimulated Luminescence ages place this find at ~56 ka BP. This is the first chronologically well constrained report of E. cf. namadicus from the Ganga Plain.     

Higher resolution total velocity <Emphasis Type="Italic">Vt</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Va</Emphasis> finite-volume formulations on cell-centred structured and unstructured grids

Novel cell-centred finite-volume formulations are presented for incompressible and immiscible two-phase flow with both gravity and capillary pressure effects on structured and unstructured grids. The Darcy-flux is approximated by a control-volume distributed multipoint flux approximation (CVD-MPFA) coupled with a higher resolution approximation for convective transport. The CVD-MPFA method is used for Darcy-flux approximation involving pressure, gravity, and capillary pressure flux operators. Two IMPES formulations for coupling the pressure equation with fluid transport are presented. The first is based on the classical total velocity Vt fractional flow (Buckley Leverett) formulation, and the second is based on a more recent Va formulation. The CVD-MPFA method is employed for both Vt and Va formulations. The advantages of both coupled formulations are contrasted. The methods are tested on a range of structured and unstructured quadrilateral and triangular grids. The tests show that the resulting methods are found to be comparable for a number of classical cases, including channel flow problems. However, when gravity is present, flow regimes are identified where the Va formulation becomes locally unstable, in contrast to the total velocity formulation. The test cases also show the advantages of the higher resolution method compared to standard first-order single-point upstream weighting.     

How water use of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Salix</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">psammophila</Emphasis> bush depends on groundwater depth in a semi-desert area

To investigate the groundwater levels changes effects on the transpiration of Salix psammophila (S. psammophila) bush, systemic measurements of meteorological conditions, sap flow of S. psammophila, soil water contents and groundwater levels were conducted in the Hailiutu River catchment, NW of China. Based on the collected field data, Hydrus-1D software package was used to calibrate water movement for root uptake in the saturated–unsaturated zone. The soil hydraulic parameters and root uptake function parameters were calibrated. The simulated results of soil water contents and sap flow fitted well with the observed ones. Based on the calibrated hydraulic parameters, different groundwater levels were imposed at the low boundary to simulate the groundwater levels changes effects on the transpiration. The relationship between ratio of actual transpiration and potential (T/T _p) and groundwater water table depth was established. The results shows that the ratio of actual transpiration and potential transpiration decreases with groundwater table depth increase as inverse ‘S’ shape. And the turn point is corresponding to the extinct depth, i.e., no groundwater contribution to S. psammophila transpiration. To further verify this phenomenon is universal, the soil hydraulic parameters were replaced with the other five groups in the calibrated forward model. The results confirmed the similar changes of T _a/T _p with the groundwater levels changed, i.e. inverse ‘S’ shape. However, the extinction depth is different corresponding to different soil hydraulic parameters. So, the research results indicated the relationship between transpiration and groundwater levels is non-linear function.     

Investigation of tolerance to different nickel concentrations in two species <Emphasis Type="Italic">Matricaria chamomilla</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Matricaria aurea</Emphasis>

Contamination of soil with heavy metals is one of the important concerns of public health and food production. Nickel is a heavy metal whose toxic properties have been confirmed. In some plants, nickel has also been known as a useful metal for their growth. In this research, the response of two chamomile species to different levels of nickel was investigated in two stages of germination and callogenesis in vitro conditions in factorial experiment based on completely randomized design. In the first experiment, the effect of different concentrations of nickel sulfate (0, 60, 120, and 180 µM) was examined on germination of German (Matricaria chamomilla) and Aurea (M. aurea) chamomile seeds in the MS culture medium. The results indicated that at high levels of nickel sulfate, the speed and percentage of germination increased in both types of chamomile. In M. chamomilla, with the increase in the concentration of nickel sulfate, the length of the seedling decreased, but the seed weight vigor, length of the radicle, and dry weight of the seedling increased. M. aurea showed elevation in most indices. The results of the second experiment indicated that the M. chamomilla leaf explants had callogenesis and its callogenesis indices showed a significant decrease at high levels of nickel, when compared with the control In M. aurea, the calluses did not grow sufficiently, suggesting the sensitivity of M. aurea’s callogenesis to the presence of different levels of nickel. In conclusion, chamomile appears to be tolerant to nickel stress.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Steak up to the horns</Emphasis>!

Recent conversations concerning organic food systems have focused on the conventionalization hypothesis, which posits that the organic food sector has become increasingly bifurcated between “historical” players in the organic movement on one side, and on the other by distributors and industrial operators recently arrived in the sector, who practice a more conventionalized form of organic agriculture which is now on the ascendancy. The most prominent explanations for the growth and dominance of a conventionalized organic food system have been economic, based in the logics of input costs, especially land rent. We use the cases of the Belgian Blue commodity system and the Belgian organic beef commodity system to argue that conventionalization is also cognitive. To understand the role of cognition in the ascendance of the conventional organic food sector, we utilize concept of “référentiel”—or system of cognitive references—as developed by Muller and Jobert. We believe that comparing organic and conventional practices as two systems of cognitive references makes a deeper understanding of conventionalization possible in two ways: first because it makes it clear that the two systems coexist on a cognitive level, understood in a broad sense as tightly knit sets of knowledges, beliefs, standards, and images. Secondly, the concept of référentiel enables one to understand how the conventional system can become irreversible (lock-in effect) and thus incompatible with the development of the organic system.

Gulf Ribbed Mussels (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Geukensia granosissima</Emphasis>) Increase Methane Emissions from a Coastal <Emphasis Type="Italic">Spartina alterniflora</Emphasis> Marsh

Understanding methane emissions from natural sources is becoming increasingly important with future climactic uncertainty. Wetlands are the single largest natural source of methane; however, little attention has been given to how biota and interactions between aboveground and belowground communities may affect methane emission rates in these systems. To investigate the effects of vegetative disturbance and belowground biogeochemical alterations induced by biota on methane emissions in situ, we manipulated densities of Littoraria irrorata (marsh periwinkle snails) and Geukensia granosissima (gulf ribbed mussels) inside fenced enclosures within a Spartina alterniflora salt marsh and measured methane emissions and sediment extracellular enzyme activity (phosphatase, β-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase, peroxidase, and phenol oxidase) over the course of a year. Changes in snail density did not have an effect on methane emission; however, increased densities of ribbed mussels significantly increased the emission of methane. Sediment extracellular enzyme activities for phosphatase, cellobiohydrolase, N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase, and phenol oxidase were correlated to methane emission, and none of the enzymes assayed were affected by the snail and mussel density treatments. While methane emissions from salt marsh ecosystems are lower than those from freshwater systems, the high degree of variability in emission rates and the potential for interactions with naturally occurring biota that increase emissions warrant further investigations into salt marsh methane dynamics.