Recovery of planktonic invertebrate communities in restored and created tidal marshes along the northern Gulf of Mexico

A significant amount of tidal marsh restoration has occurred over the past two decades. However, restored marshes often fail to recover biological structure and ecosystem functions comparable to reference marshes. We implemented a 13-site inventory to evaluate the recovery of zooplankton and meroplankton abundance and community composition along the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf coasts. Understanding the recovery of zooplankton and meroplankton communities in restored marshes is critical, as many planktonic invertebrate species contribute to nutrient cycling and food web dynamics. We found that zooplankton and meroplankton communities in restored tidal marshes were comparable in total abundance, taxonomic richness, and taxonomic composition to communities observed in reference tidal marshes — with composition being driven mainly by surface water salinity. But zooplankton and meroplankton communities in restored marshes did have lower evenness and diversity than comparable reference marsh..., Site Descriptions and Marsh Restoration
We used a series of 13 tidal marshes in coastal wetlands along the Alabama and Mississippi, USA coast to evaluate the diversity and composition of planktonic invertebrate communities in restored tidal marshes of the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Ten of these tidal marshes had brackish surface waters ranging in salinity from 2–13 ppt. The additional three marshes had fresh surface waters with a salinity of 0.1 ppt. All tidal marsh sites were exposed to meteorologically influenced, diurnal micro tides with a maximum amplitude of 0.8 m.
Our 13 tidal marshes were mainly nested within three watersheds along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines. Three marshes, one natural (Fowl River Natural) and two restored (Fowl River CON-1 and CON-2), were clustered along the West Fowl River (30°21'59.5\"N, 88°09'33.2\"W) on the western side of Mobile Bay. One natural (Grand Bay Natural) and one restored (Grand Bay Restored) marsh were located approximately 0.5 km..., All data are provided in CSV formats and should be usable in basic programs, like Excel.Â