Relationships of Soil, Plant, and Microbial Characteristics in Silt-Clay and Sand, Tall-Form Spartina alterniflora Marshes

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Abstract
The relationships between soil texture, plant growth, and anaerobic microbial activity in two tall-formSpartina alterniflora marshes on Sapelo Island, Georgia, were compared. The soil of one marsh was composed of typical silt-clay-sized particles; the soil of the other marsh consisted of >90% sand-sized particles. The two soils supported similar biomasses ofS. alterniflora, however, plants were taller and more robust in the silt-clay-soil than in the sand soil. Total microbial adenosine triphosphate concentrations in the silt-clay and sand soils averaged 5.71 and 1.64 μg per cm3, respectively. Seawater slurries of both soils exhibited potential for microbial sulfate reduction, methanogenesis, and glucose fermentation; rates for the processes averaged 2.03 and 0.33 nmol S-cm3 per h; 1.20 and 0.87 μmol CH4 per cm3 per h; and 0.04 and 0.12 per min (rate constant) for the sand and silt-clay soils, respectively.