Panel 11: salt- vs freshwater marsh

Salinities within the GCE/LTER site range from zero to 30+ o/oo. We examined accumulation in standing-decaying leaves of living-fungal mass (as ergosterol) and potential fungal activity (as CO2 release and as acetate incorporation into ergosterol in water-saturated leaves). An hypothesized downward trend in ergosterol accumulation toward freshwater was found, but the opposite trend was found for potential fungal activity. We currently speculate that leaves adapted to the fresher-water marshes are less wettable, especially by dew, implying that fungal accumulation could pick up sharply upon leaf movement to sediment surfaces.