Patterns of Sedimentation in a Salt Marsh-Dominated Estuary

in significantly higher growth rates for this organism. Furthermore, the observed seaward encroachment of P. australis is slowly pushing out D. spicata, the species that we found to have the highest nutritional quality (2). Given a continued shoreward migration of S. alterniflora due to sea-level rise and the seaward spread of P. australis, the overall food quality of marsh detritus for this invertebrate could decline. This suggests that changes in marsh grass species composition could affect higher trophic levels in this salt-marsh ecosystem. This research was supported by an NSF-REU fellowship through the Plum Island Ecosystem LTER to AMA.