The Ecology of a Salt Marsh
Ecologists have two long-standing ways to study large ecosystems such as lakes, forests, and salt-marsh estuaries. In the first, which G. E. Hutchinson has called the holological approach, the whole ecosystem is first studied as a "black box," and its com
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Edited by W.D. Billings, Durham (USA) F. Golley, Athens (USA) O.L. Lange, Wiirzburg (FRG) l.S. Olson, Oak Ridge (USA) H. Remmert, Marburg (FRG)
Volume 38
The salt marshes of Sapelo Island, with the Duplin River in the foreground.
The Ecology of a Salt Marsh Edited by L.R. Pomeroy and R.O. Wiegert
With 57 Figures
Springer- Verlag New York Heidelberg Berlin
Lawrence R. Pomeroy Richard G. Wiegert University of Georgia Department of Zoology Institute of Ecology Athens, Georgia 30602 U.S.A.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data The Ecology of a Salt Marsh (Ecological studies; v. 38) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Tidemarsh ecology. I. Pomeroy, Lawrence R., 1925II. Wiegert, Richard G. III. Series. QH541.5.S24E26 574.5'2636 80-29676 AACRI ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-5895-7 001: 10.1007/978-1-4612-5893-3
e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4612-5893-3
© 1981 by Springer-Verlag New York Inc. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 15t edition 1981
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be translated or reproduced in any form without written permission from Springer-Verlag, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, 10010, USA. The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, etc. in this publication, even if the former are not especially identified, is not to be taken as a sign that such names, as understood by the Trade Marks and Merchandise Marks Act, may accordingly be used freely by anyone.
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Foreword
Ecologists have two long-standing ways to study large ecosystems such as lakes, forests, and salt-marsh estuaries. In the first, which G. E. Hutchinson has called the holological approach, the whole ecosystem is first studied as a "black box," and its components are investigated as needed. In the second, which Hutchinson has called the merological approach, the parts of the system are studied first, and an attempt is then made to build up the whole from them. For long-term studies, the holological approach has special advantages, since the general patterns and tentative hypotheses that are first worked out help direct attention to the components of the system which need to be studied in greater detail. In this approach, teams of investigators focus on major functions and hypotheses and thereby coordinate their independent study efforts. Thus, although there have been waves, as it were, of investigators and graduate students working on different aspects of the Georgia salt-marsh estuaries (personnel at the Marine Institute on Sapelo Island changes every few years), the emphasis on the holological approach has resulted in a highly differentiated and well-coordinated long-term study. Very briefly, the history of the salt-marsh studies can be outlined as follows. First, the general patterns of food chains and other energy flows in the marshes and creeks were worked out, and the nature of imports and exports to and from the system and its subsystems were delimited. Next, a number of general hypotheses were formulated and subsequently tested by detailed studies of key components, studies designed to pr
