Coastal salt marshes are highly productive\u00a0ecosystems dominated by halotolerant vascular plants.\u00a0 Marshes provide a variety of ecosystem services;\u00a0 they reduce coastal erosion and flooding, filter nutrients from the water column and sediment, and provide nursery habitat to numerous fish and invertebrates.\u00a0 Anthropogenic nutrient enrichment, rising sea level, and rising global temperatures have the potential to alter the community stucture and function of salt marshes around the globe.<\/p>\n
In this study, we are examing the physiological resonse of the smooth cordgrass,\u00a0 Spartina alterniflora<\/em>, to increased nutrient availablity. S. alterniflora<\/em> is a key ecosystem engineer in salt marshes and is one of the most dominant species in salt marshes along the North Atlantic coast.\u00a0 The work is being done in collaboration with researchers at the Ecosystem Center at the Marine Biology Laboratory, Woods Hole MA as part of the NSF funded TIDE project<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coastal salt marshes are highly productive\u00a0ecosystems dominated by halotolerant vascular plants.\u00a0 Marshes provide a variety of ecosystem services;\u00a0 they reduce coastal erosion and flooding, filter nutrients from the water column and sediment, and provide nursery habitat to numerous fish and …<\/p>\n