The application of cutting plus waterlogging to control Spartina alterniflora on saltmarshes in the Yangtze Estuary,China

Control and eradication of the exotic and invasive plant Spartina alterniflora within the Chongming Dongtan nature reserve, Shanghai, China, is vital for the management and conservation of the saltmarshes. A demonstration project was established using waterlogging and cutting to control this invasive species. Results from 2007 to 2008 showed that, although the managed waterlogging significantly reduced biomass and seed production of S. alterniflora at an early stage, the species subsequently showed rapid adaptation to the long-term waterlogging stress. Thus, managed waterlogging alone was insufficient for the effective eradication of S. alterniflora. However, managed waterlogging for around 3 months, combined with cutting the above-ground part of S. alterniflora at a key stage (flowering period in July), controlled and eradicated the plant successfully. Both the above-ground and below-ground parts of S. alterniflora were killed and the plants began to decompose after 3 months. Furthermore, there was no re-growth of the emergent part of S. alterniflora in the following years. However, once the impounded water was released restoring the natural hydrodynamic regime of the saltmarshes, the seeds and seedlings of S. alterniflora reinvaded the controlled site from the neighboring areas and the S. alterniflora community was re-established. Thus, after eradication of S. alterniflora, control measures should be maintained to prevent the re-establishment of S. alterniflora. The results of this demonstration project indicate a potentially useful and effective approach for the control and management of large-scale invasion by S. alterniflora on saltmarshes in the Yangtze Estuary, China.     

盐沼的侵蚀、堆积和沉积动力

最近国外对盐沼侵蚀、堆积过程进行了较深入细致的研究,取得了很大进展,主要包括野外短尺度详细的沉积过程观测,室内物理模拟的尝试和数学模拟的不断应用,本文对此作了综述。这将加深人们对盐沼如何响应海平面、潮型、泥沙供给和波浪气候变化的认识。     

Short-term (≤2 yrs) estuarine mudflat and saltmarsh sedimentation: High-resolution data from ultrasonic altimetery, rod surface-elevation table, and filter traps

Rates of short-term (up to 2 years) bed elevation change and sedimentation from mudflats to salt marshes were measured in a rapidly infilling macrotidal estuary using an original combination of three high-resolution techniques: an ultrasonic altimeter, the Rod Surface-Elevation Table (RSET) method, and filter traps. The Authie estuary is located on a straight, sand-rich coast and is undergoing rapid infill under the influence of flood-dominant tides reinforced by wave action. The estuarine sediment suite consists of both mud and sand derived from the sea, of sand derived from storm wave erosion of dunes lining the north bank of the estuary, and, to a much smaller extent, of mud from the river catchment. Bed elevation change and sedimentation rates show an expected increase with the duration of tidal flooding (hydroperiod) in both space and time. The estuarine bed sediment suite changes from sandy at the mouth to muddy within the low-energy inner estuary, where mudflats are rapidly accreting, paving the way for the formation of increasingly denser and mature salt marshes from the high-sedimentation pioneer zone to the upper marsh where annual sedimentation is very low. Recorded variability in rates of bed elevation change and sedimentation reflect the influence of estuarine macro-scale and local sediment transport and depositional processes in a macrotidal context dominated by high inputs of allochthonous sediments.     

互花米草对泉州湾盐沼表层沉积物输运的影响

海岸盐沼是海岸湿地系统的重要组成部分,具有很强的环境调节功能．互花米草（Spartina alterniflora）的引种对海岸盐沼的沉积动力产生很大影响．粒度分析结果表明,互花米草盐沼边缘与沉积物平均粒径为6．7φ的等值线分布一致．现场观测表明,互花米草对流速具有明显的阻滞作用,使得光滩流速明显大于互花米草内的流速;在互花米草滩内,随着离盐沼边缘距离、植被高度、植株直径的不同,涨落潮流速也表现出不同的变化趋势．粒径趋势分析结果显示,互花米草盐沼边缘的表层沉积物由光滩向盐沼内输运,潮水沟的存在对沉积物的输运格局具有显著影响．对比分析表明落潮后期的水动力条件控制着研究区内表层沉积物的净输运方向．     

A DEM Inversion Method for Inter-Tidal Zone Based on MODIS Dataset: A Case Study in the Dongsha Sandbank of Jiangsu Radial Tidal Sand-Ridges, China

Surface elevation is the basic data for geo-science. It is difficult to retrieve tidal-flats’ elevation from single Remote Sensing (RS) image because of the complicated sediment dynamical environment and huge spatial difference in tidal-flats’ moisture content. A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) construction method for inconstant inter-tidal zone based on high tempo-resolution MODIS data set in a short period is proposed in a case study on the Dongsha Sandbank of the Jiangsu Radial Tidal Sand-ridges. In the present study, a batch-preprocessing method based on image partition to handle massive MODIS 1B images is developed and applied to 8163 scenes of MODIS images. The dataset of short-period and multi-temporal MODIS images for inter-tidal flats’ DEM inversion is selected and the usability of MODIS dataset is analyzed. Shorelines of the Dongsha Sandbank are extracted by use of batch supervised classification. In accord with tidal-level forecasted by the Chenjiawu Tidal Gauge Station at the overpass moment of each RS image, DEMs of inter-tidal flats in January and summer(Jul, Aug and Sept), 2003 were built under ArcGIS9.2. Studies show that: (1) The dataset of short-duration and multi-phase MODIS images can be used to retrieve the historical DEM of tidal-flats at changeful tidal flats. (2) Analysis on usability of MODIS images from Aqua and Terra indicates that there are more usable and high-quality MODIS images in spring, autumn and winter, but less in summer. Therefore, the period for building inter-tidal flats’ DEM is suggested to be one month in spring, autumn and winter and three months in summer.     

Physicochemical changes in sediments at Orplands Farm,Essex, UK following 8 years of managed realignment

Managed realignment (MR) is a ‘soft’ engineering technique that involves the deliberate landwards retreat of the existing line of coastal defence and subsequent tidal inundation of land. Managed realignment has been established worldwide for over 30 years and its goals may include habitat restoration, recovery of biodiversity and sustainable coastal defence. In southeast England in particular, an increasing number of MR sites (20–110 ha) have been commissioned in the last decade in response to increasing coastal habitat loss and sea-level rise. Following initial sea wall breaching and site flooding, monitoring of these sites is usually carried out for a period of 5 years and during this time changes in ecosystem structure can be easily observed. However, there is a poor understanding of the long-term effects of flooding on soil physicochemical parameters including sediment geochemistry and geochemical cycling, nutrient fluxes and soil maturation processes. Such physical and chemical changes may continue to take place over time-scales exceeding 5 years and therefore current monitoring practices may not be sufficient.     

The nitrogen cycle of an East Coast, U.K. saltmarsh: II. Nitrogen fixation, nitrification, denitrification, tidal exchange

Measurements of nitrogen fixation (acetylene reduction) showed greatest rates in the saltmarsh pans with a benthic layer of cyanobacteria present. The smallest amount of nitrogen fixation occurred on the marsh surface where a Puccinellia maritima/Halimione portulacoides plant association shaded the underlying sediment. Phototrophic nitrogen fixation was always greater than dark, chemotrophic, bacterial fixation.Only a small proportion of the total amount of ammonium, which was formed during detrital breakdown, was nitrified to nitrate. Although there is a high capacity for bacterial nitrate reduction in these sediments, the process is limited by low nitrate availability and most nitrate upon reduction is converted to ammonium rather than being denitrified to gaseous products. Denitrification does not, therefore, result in any great loss of nitrogen from the saltmarsh.There was little net import or export of nitrogen on an annual basis, although nitrate and organic-N in small particulate material was removed from tidal water by the marsh, and there was net annual export of ammonium, dissolved organic-N and organic-N in large particulate material. Losses of nitrogen by the small net tidal export and by denitrification were approximately balanced by nitrogen fixation. It was concluded that the nitrogen cycle of the Colne Point saltmarsh was balanced on an annual basis, with most nitrogen being recycled within the marsh. The saltmarsh did not apparently act as a net source of nitrogen for the adjacent estuary, although it may act as an important processor of nitrogen, removing some forms of nitrogen such as nitrate from tidal water while exporting other forms of nitrogen such as dissolved organic-N.     

江苏王港潮间带柱状样的压缩和校正

潮滩盐沼是海岸系统的重要组成部分,是海岸带陆海相互作用研究的重点对象之一。研究潮滩沉积环境和沉积过程的传统的、主要的手段是采集柱状样;在潮间带采集柱状样一般采用重力采样法,在采集过程中会产生管内压缩和管下压缩。在江苏中部王港地区的潮间带,利用重力方法取得9个柱状样,在现场采样时记录了采样管内外深度,在室内对采集的样品利用激光粒度仪进行粒度分析。根据野外记录和室内分析结果,管内压缩和管下压缩均为线性过程;管内压缩率与沉积物含水量及沉积物分选性有关,含水量越高,压缩率越大,沉积物分选越差,压缩率越大。管下压缩量是管内压缩量的11%,随着管内压缩率的增大,管下压缩量也增大,管下压缩所起的作用就越显著。     

Sediment dynamics modulated by burrowing crab activities in contrasting SW Atlantic intertidal habitats

Biogenic bottom features, animal burrows and biological activities interact with the hydrodynamics of the sediment–water interface to produce altered patterns of sediment erosion, transport and deposition which have consequences for large-scale geomorphologic features. It has been suggested that depending on the hydrodynamic status of the habitat, the biological activity on the bottom may have a variety of effects. In some cases, different bioturbation activities by the same organism can result in different consequences. The burrowing crab Neohelice granulata is the most important bioturbator at SW Atlantic saltmarshes and tidal plains. Because of the great variety of habitats that this species may inhabit, it is possible to compare its bioturbation effects between zones dominated by different hydrodynamic conditions. Internal marsh microhabitats, tidal creeks bottoms and basins, and open mudflats were selected as contrasting zones for the comparison on a large saltmarsh at Bahía Blanca Estuary (Argentina). Crab burrows act as passive traps of sediment in all zones, because their entrances remain open during inundation periods at high tide. Mounds are generated when crabs remove sediments from the burrows to the surface and become distinctive features in all the zones. Two different mechanisms of sediment transport utilizing mounds as sediment sources were registered. In the first one, parts of fresh mound sediments were transported when exposed to water flow during flooding and ebbing tide, with higher mound erosion where currents were higher as compared to internal marsh habitats and open mudflats. In the second mechanism, mounds exposed to atmospheric influence during low tide became desiccated and cracked forming ellipsoidal blocks, which were then transported by currents in zones of intense water flow in the saltmarsh edge. Sedimentary dynamics varied between zones; crabs were promoting trapping of sediments in the internal saltmarsh (380 g m⁻² day⁻¹) and open mudflats (1.2 kg m⁻² day⁻¹), but were enhancing sediment removal in the saltmarsh edge (between 10 and 500 g m⁻² day⁻¹ in summer). The implication is that biologically mediated sedimentological changes could be different among microhabitats, potentially leading to contrasting geomorphologic effects within a particular ecosystem.     

Spatial patterns,rates and mechanisms of saltmarsh cycles (Westerschelde,The Netherlands)

Saltmarsh development was studied in a spatial context, in order to understand the mechanisms involved in saltmarsh cycles. A 30-y time-series of very high resolution false colour aerial photographs was studied for eight saltmarsh sites in the Westerschelde estuary (southwest Netherlands). Detailed maps of vegetation cover were produced for each year, based on a supervised classification, and changes in vegetation cover were analysed in a geographical information system.