The goal of this project is to quantify the roles of mobile link animals, mainly fishes and decapod crustaceans (collectively called nekton), in processing and transporting materials within and between marsh-estuarine systems and subsystems. At short time scales, previous work indicates that mobile organisms are probably a major source of dissolved nutrients, ammonium and phosphate. On longer time scales, they accumulate organic biomass. Simultaneous observations of the fluxes of materials and mobile organisms between salt marshes, mud flats, oyster reefs and tidal channels will furnish estimates of the relative importance of each of these components in processing and transporting materials within and across boundaries. A replicated Before-After Control-Impact (BACI) approach will determine the statistical significance of these fluxes. Hypothesized decreases in inorganic fluxes following the exclusion of mobile link animals from flooded intertidal creek basins, particularly under dark conditions, will provide an empirical measure of the role of these animals in material processing. This project has broader impacts. The research will take place in North Inlet Estuary, South Carolina, which is a nearly pristine ecosystem, that is part of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. Many of the mobile animals are also economically important components of coastal fisheries. Furthermore, these studies will provide an attractive mechanism and opportunity for educating students, teachers and laypersons in marine and wetland science.
