Productivity • Invertebrates • Birds
Fish • Amphibians • Mammals

Productivity

Saltmarshes are believed to be highly productive environments, exporting large quantities of available carbon and energy (mostly in the form of detritus) into the water column and thus forming the basis of a rich estuarine ecosystem. This view stems largely from studies undertaken in the early 1960s on the east coast of the USA on the growth and production of smooth cord grass marshes. However, although it is possible to demonstrate the high productivity of individual plant species and communities, in fact there is relatively little work to support either the idea of a consistent net export of materials by saltmarshes or of an intimately interconnected saltmarsh-estuarine ecosystem.

Not enough is known about the interrelationship between primary productivity in saltmarshes and their overall contribution to estuarine productivity. A range of technical difficulties exist in measuring aspects of the system such as decomposition, productivity, transport and consumption. Notwithstanding this, it is known that the primary production of saltmarshes can be very high. The primary producers, which convert solar energy to chemical energy through photosynthesis, include both vascular plants and algae; where the contribution of the latter to total productivity is difficult to measure and is largely unknown, but may be as high as 50%.