Use of historical isoscapes to develop an estuarine nutrient baseline.

Coastal eutrophication is a prevalent threat to the healthy functioning of ecosystems globally. While degraded water quality can be detected by monitoring oxygen, nutrient concentrations, and algal abundance, establishing regulatory guidelines is complicated by a lack of baseline data (e.g., pre-Anthropocene). We use historical carbon and nitrogen isoscapes over ~300 years from sediment cores to reconstruct spatial and temporal changes in nutrient dynamics for a central California estuary, Elkhorn Slough, where development and agriculture dramatically enhanced nutrient inputs over the past century. We found strong contrasts between current sediment stable isotopes and those from the recent past, demonstrating shifts exceeding those in previously studied eutrophic estuaries and substantial increases in nutrient inputs. Comparisons of contemporary with historical isoscapes also revealed that nitrogen sources shifted from a historical marine-terrestrial gradient with higher δ15N near the inlet to amplified denitrification at the head and mouth of the modern estuary driven by increased N inputs. Geospatial analysis of historical data suggests that an increase in fertilizer application - rather than population growth or increases in the extent of cultivated land - is chiefly responsible for increasing nutrient loads during the 20th century. This study demonstrates the ability of isotopic and stoichiometric maps to provide important perspectives on long-term shifts and spatial patterns of nutrients that can be used to improve management of nutrient pollution.

High nutrient loads amplify carbon cycling across California and New York coastal wetlands but with ambiguous effects on marsh integrity and sustainability.

Eutrophic conditions in estuaries are a globally important stressor to coastal ecosystems and have been suggested as a driver of coastal salt marsh loss. Potential mechanisms in marshes include disturbance caused by macroalgae accumulations, enhanced soil sulfide levels linked to high labile carbon inputs, accelerated decomposition, and declines in belowground biomass that contribute to edge instability, erosion, and slumping. However, results of fertilization studies have been mixed, and it is unclear the extent to which local environmental conditions, such as soil composition and nutrient profiles, help shape the response of salt marshes to nutrient exposure. In this study, we characterized belowground productivity and decomposition, organic matter mineralization rates, soil respiration, microbial biomass, soil humification, carbon and nitrogen inventories, nitrogen isotope ratios, and porewater profiles at high and low marsh elevations across eight marshes in four estuaries in California and New York that have strong contrasts in nutrient inputs. The higher nutrient load marshes were characterized by faster carbon turnover, with higher belowground production and decomposition and greater carbon dioxide efflux than lower nutrient load marshes. These patterns were robust across marshes of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts that varied in plant species composition, soil flooding patterns, and soil texture. Although impacts of eutrophic conditions on carbon cycling appeared clear, it was ambiguous whether high nutrient loads are causing negative effects on long-term marsh sustainability in terms of studied metrics. While high nutrient exposure marshes had high rates of decomposition and soil respiration rates, high nutrient exposure was also associated with increased belowground production, and reduced levels of sulfides, which should lead to greater marsh sustainability. While this study does not resolve the extent to which nutrient loads are negatively affecting these salt marshes, we do highlight functional differences between Atlantic and Pacific wetlands which may be useful for understanding coastal marsh health and integrity.

Biodiversity effects and rates of spread of nonnative eucalypt woodlands in central California.

Woodlands comprised of planted, nonnative trees are increasing in extent globally, while native woodlands continue to decline due to human activities. The ecological impacts of planted woodlands may include changes to the communities of understory plants and animals found among these nonnative trees relative to native woodlands, as well as invasion of adjacent habitat areas through spread beyond the originally planted areas. Eucalypts (Eucalyptus spp.) are among the most widely planted trees worldwide, and are very common in California, USA. The goals of our investigation were to compare the biological communities of nonnative eucalypt woodlands to native oak woodlands in coastal central California, and to examine whether planted eucalypt groves have increased in size over the past decades. We assessed site and habitat attributes and characterized biological communities using understory plant, ground-dwelling arthropod, amphibian, and bird communities as indicators. Degree of difference between native and nonnative woodlands depended on the indicator used. Eucalypts had significantly greater canopy height and cover, and significantly lower cover by perennial plants and species richness of arthropods than oaks. Community composition of arthropods also differed significantly between eucalypts and oaks. Eucalypts had marginally significantly deeper litter depth, lower abundance of native plants with ranges limited to western North America, and lower abundance of amphibians. In contrast to these differences, eucalypt and oak groves had very similar bird community composition, species richness, and abundance. We found no evidence of "invasional meltdown," documenting similar abundance and richness of nonnatives in eucalypt vs. oak woodlands. Our time-series analysis revealed that planted eucalypt groves increased 271% in size, on average, over six decades, invading adjacent areas. Our results inform science-based management of California woodlands, revealing that while bird communities would probably not be affected by restoration of eucalypt to oak woodlands, such a restoration project would not only stop the spread of eucalypts into adjacent habitats but would also enhance cover by western North American native plants and perennials, enhance amphibian abundance, and increase arthropod richness.