Human‐induced nitrogen–phosphorus (N, P) imbalance in terrestrial ecosystems can lead to disproportionate N and P loading to aquatic ecosystems, subsequently shifting the elemental ratio in estuaries and coastal oceans and impacting both the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems. The N:P ratio of nutrient loading to the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River Basin increased before the late 1980s driven by the enha...

Tidal fresh marshes are at least as productive as nearby salt marshes, but much less is known about controls on primary production in tidal fresh vs. salt marshes. We studied a tidal fresh marsh in Georgia, U.S.A., dominated by the C 3 grass Zizaniopsis miliacea . We documented seasonal variation in Z. miliacea above‐ground biomass and below‐ground macro‐organic matter over 1 yr, and annual variation in end‐of‐season abovegrou...

We conducted a free‐water mass balance‐based study to address the rate of metabolism and net carbon exchange for the tidal wetland and estuarine portion of the coastal ocean and the uncertainties associated with this approach were assessed. We measured open water diurnal O 2 and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) dynamics seasonally in a salt marsh‐estuary in Georgia, U.S.A. with a focus on the marsh‐estuary linkage associated w...

We compared processing and fate of dissolved NO 3 − in two New England salt marsh ecosystems, one receiving natural flood tide concentrations of ∼1–4 μmol NO 3 − /L and the other receiving experimentally fertilized flood tides containing ∼70–100 μmol NO 3 − /L. We conducted simultaneous 15 NO 3 − (isotope) tracer additions from 23 to 28 July 2005 in the reference (8.4 ha) and fertilized (12.4 ha) systems to compare N dynamics...

Previous studies have shown that watersheds with significant human development (i.e., urban and agricultural land use) generally have higher concentrations and fluxes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) in comparison to less‐developed or forested watersheds. However, the impact of watershed development on dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) concentrations in drainage waters has received little attention. We present data from 39...