Decomposition and lignin content of wooden dowels deployed in salt- or brackish marshes for 3, 5, or 7 years at the Plum Island Ecosystem LTER site, Rowley MA and the North Inlet Estuary, Georgetown, SC, 2017-2024.

Wooden dowels were used to examine organic matter decomposition in salt- and brackish marsh soils. Dowels were inserted to a depth of 45cm in control and fertilized marsh plots. They were harvested after 3, 5 or 7 years and sectioned into 5-cm segments. Weight loss of the dowel segments was used to quantify the fate of labile organic matter while change in lignin content was used to quantify the fate of refractory organic matter.