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2015 Puget Sound Factbook Book | v3.0 c. Kelps and macroalgae: 350-1500 g C/m 2 /yr, Macrocystis pyrifera, 600-1300 g C/m 2 /yr for Laminaria in coastal California (Dayton, 1985). Macroalgae productivity strongly depends on dissolved inorganic nitrogen, which varies with coastal upwelling cycles associated with El Nino and La Nina events. No Puget Sound primary productivity rates were available. d. Riverine inputs (limited data Puget Sound) and marine riparian vegetation: Nanaimo River = Dissolved organic carbon (DOC): 2000 g C/ m 2 /yr, fine particulate organic carbon (FPOC): 56 g C/ m 2 /yr (Naiman & Sibert, 1978), similar to marsh ecosystems. Skagit River 3.8 g C/m 3 /yr Much of this material is thought to be refractory, and therefore unavailable to consumers (Canuel et al., 2009; Mueller-Solger et al., 2002). 3. While phytoplankton becomes available to Puget Sound food webs via punctuated seasonal blooms in the spring and fall (Winter et al., 1975), detritus is available continually throughout the year because it breaks down slowly, with decomposition ranging between 8- 112 weeks (Brinson et al., 1978). Vascular marsh plants decay at a rate of approximately 0.3%/yr (Findlay et al., 1990), although decomposition depends on temperature, aerobic conditions, microbial and detritus feeder community composition, hydroperiod (moisture), and the lability of the species decomposing (Brinson et al., 1981). Microbial conditioning of detrital material enhances the nitrogen content, and hence, the nutritional quality of the material for consumers (Sosik & Simenstad, 2013). 4. Sound-wide degradation of these ecosystems represents a non-trivial reduction of the amount of detritus entering Puget Sound food webs. Most critically for detritus-based food webs, the total area of wetlands has declined dramatically in most river deltas, with the greatest losses in South Central Puget Sound and the Whidbey sub-basins. In the 16 major estuarine deltas feeding into Puget Sound, 25% of unvegetated mudflats, 45% of marshes within estuarine mixing zones, 98% of brackish marshes, and 90% of tidal freshwater wetlands have been lost (Simenstad et al., 2011). This represents over 275 metric tons/yr of detrital materials that no longer reach Puget Sound food webs just due to alterations in the deltas of 16 river systems leading into Puget Sound. When non-delta ecosystems are included, the Sound is deprived of nearly 450 metric tons of detritus per year—equal to about 45 school buses. Calculations for the historical change in detrital biomass emanating from Puget Sound river deltas are based on primary production estimates for each source (see Fact 4) and the estimated historical change in the areal extent of each ecosystem type according to the PSNERP Historical Change Analysis of Puget Sound nearshore ecosystems (Simenstad et al., 2011). Estimated biomass lost due to historical change in landscape structure: 82
Food webs River Delta losses: 1. Mudflats: 9,500 kg/m 2 /yr 2. Emergent marshes: 25,700 kg/m 2 /yr 3. Scrub-shrub tidal wetlands: 90,280 kg/m 2 /yr 4. Tidal freshwater swamps: 150,000 kg/m 2 /yr Non-Delta losses: 1. Mudflats: NA 2. Emergent marshes: 37037 kg/m 2 /yr 3. Scrub-shrub tidal wetlands: 98,570 kg/m 2 /yr 4. Tidal freshwater swamps: 38,250 kg/m 2 /yr 5. Approximately 47% of annual marsh primary production is exported from marsh ecosystems to estuarine food webs as detritus (Sherwood et al., 1990), feeding benthic infauna such as clams and mussels (Howe & Simenstad, 2012), gammarid amphipods, and polychaete annelid worms (Jones et al., 1990). The remainder accretes in marsh sediments or feeds marsh detritivores (Sherwood et al., 1990). 6. In Puget Sound, over 27% of total shoreline length is armored by some type of structure, although many regions, such as Central Puget Sound (60%), exhibit much higher percentages (Simenstad et al., 2011). The Puget Sound Nearshore Ecosystem Restoration Project “conducted a comprehensive and spatially-explicit analysis of net changes to nearshore ecosystems of Puget Sound – its beaches, estuaries, and deltas- since its earliest industrial development” (Simenstad et al., 2011). Present (2000-2006) shoreline structure was quantitatively compared to the earliest land surveys of the General Land Office and US Coast and Geodetic Survey (1850-1890s). Shoreline armoring is approaching 100% in the Skagit, Stillaguamish, and Snohomish river deltas, has reached 100% in the Duwamish and Puyallup deltas, encompasses the entire eastern shore of Bellingham and Samish Bays, and stretches across 75% of the Nisqually delta. Shoreline length has been reduced by greater than 50% in the Nooksack and Samish deltas, and over 50% of the aquatic zone in Birch bay has been covered by fill. Tidal barriers are prominent in the Quilcene, Hamma hamma, Duckabush, Dosewallips, and Skokomish river deltas. 7. Shoreline armoring reduces detritus availability to beach organisms by 66-76%, and disrupts ecosystem connectivity between detritus-generating ecosystems and marine food webs (Heerhartz et al., 2014). Armoring also changes the composition of wrack to exclude 83
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