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• Hurricane Hardware
• 10 Questions for the Seafood Safety Program
• Knauss Fellow Works with Marine Policy-Makers in Washington
• Hurricane Expo Kicks Off Season
• Oral Histories Project Wins Award for Student
• Fire and Water
• Communities Receive Grants to Better Prepare for Hazards
• TV Shows to Advise Against Gambling with Nature
• Featured Publication
• From the Director

Sea Briefs is a report on the results of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.

Editor: Laura Bowie

This newsletter is available in PDF format from:
masgc.org/seabriefs

MASGC supports applied, interdisciplinary marine science research, education and outreach efforts to foster the sustainable development and management of the Mississippi and Alabama coasts and nearshore ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico

Mississippi-Alabama
Sea Grant Consortium
703 East Beach Drive
Ocean Springs, MS 39564
Phone: 228-818-8838
E-mail: seabriefs@masgc.org
MASGP 09-011-02

Scientists study how fire may affect key functions in marches

Natural resource managers often use prescribed burns in forests to reduce fuels, improve habitat and prepare sites for seeding and planting. When it comes to black needlerush (Juncus roemerianus) marshes, less is known about the benefits or drawbacks of using fire for management purposes.

In a research project funded by MASGC, scientists are studying how fire affects water quality, plant production and soil accretion (the increase of land along the shoreline) at the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in Moss Point, Miss.

Julia Cherry, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama in the Department of Biological Sciences and New College, is coleading the project with Christopher May of The Nature Conservancy.

Coastal wetlands are important to communities because they lessen the strength of storms, reduce flooding and offer biodiversity for recreational activities and coastal economies. While fire is not necessarily thought of as something that could affect elevation in marshes, it could, Cherry said.

“Prescribed burning may be a useful tool for enhancing elevation gain in marshes threatened by submergence due to sea-level rise,” she said. “We are trying to figure out what affects the ability of these marshes to persist in the long term. Some processes might be more important than others.”

The team of scientists, which includes Cherry and May, UA Graduate Student Anna Braswell, Grand Bay NERR Stewardship Coordinator Will Underwood and Stewardship Associate Jay McIlwain, is observing soil chemistry, plant production and accretion before and after controlled burns on test plots at the reserve.

The findings may determine if fire had a positive or negative effect on nutrient availability, accretion, plant mass and plant diversity.

The scope of the project, which originally included studying the affects of burning large piles of dead plant material and wood that washed up during Hurricane Katrina, has changed. The debris disappeared last year when Hurricanes Gustav and Ike raised waters and took it out to sea.

Braswell, however, is taking that issue into a greenhouse environment at the university, where she will measure variables and elevation change in response to burns and hurricanes.