Tidal marshes are an important feature of the Connecticut shoreline. Contributing significantly to the health of the larger ecosystem and performing a number of important functions including providing habitat for birds and fish, ecosystem filtering of land-derived pollutants and flood protection for the coastline. Degradation of these systems can have local and widespread effects.

Approximately 30% of Connecticut’s coastal salt marshes have been lost due to direct impacts of dredging and filling. Many of these destructive forces have in large part been addressed but more research is needed to understand the indirect impacts on tidal marshes. Such research will give scientist, managers, and policymakers a more holistic view of salt marshes and the challenges facing them in order to enact more effective protective strategies.

This project is an investigation into the physical (flooding frequency) and edaphic (salinity) factors on net aboveground primary productivity (NAPP). Sampling was done at 3 marshes on the southern Connecticut coast along Long Island Sound. The marshes represent three different marsh conditions: A healthy marsh- located on Hoadley Creek near Guilford, CT; a degrading marsh- located on Sherwood Island in Westport, CT; and an aggrading marsh (recently restored tidal flushing) - at Jarvis Creek in Branford, CT.

The expected differences between NAPP were not observed. Sherwood Island (degrading) and Hoadley (healthy) exhibited the same mean NAPP. Overall this study’s findings do not support the hypothesis that higher nutrient, salinity, and sulfide levels have contributed to decline at Sherwood Island. The relationship between NAPP and each of the measured factors is complex and disentangling how individual factors act on marsh NAPP is difficult. It is important to further investigate how combinations of physical and edaphic factors act on each marsh and how additional factors (e.g. disturbance history) play a role in the current condition of a marsh.