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Science 4 May 1984:
Vol. 224. no. 4648, pp. 487 - 489
DOI: 10.1126/science.224.4648.487
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Articles

Water Uptake by Roots Controls Water Table Movement and Sediment Oxidation in Short Spartina Marsh

JOHN W.H. DACEY 1 and BRIAN L. HOWES 2

1 Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543
2 Boston University Marine Program, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543

Downward movement of the water table during both day and night in the short grass zone of intertidal salt marshes is due not to drainage but to water uptake by roots. Removal of water from the sediment results in the entry of air into the sediment, suggesting a feedback between plant growth, water uptake, and sediment oxidation. The water balance of Spartina alterniflora appears to influence the internal morphology of its roots, potentially giving rise to a new mechanism for the mass flow of gas in plants.

Submitted on October 31, 1983
Accepted on March 1, 1984


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
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C. Wigand, R. A. McKinney, M. M. Chintala, M. A. Charpentier, and P. M. Groffman (2004)
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