Effects of bridge shading on estuarine marsh benthic invertebrate community structure and function.

The effect of bridge shading on estuarine marsh food webs was assessed by comparing benthic invertebrate communities beneath seven highway bridges with marshes outside of bridge-affected areas (reference marshes). We used light attenuation and height-width ratio (HW ratio), which takes into account the two main bridge characteristics that determine the degree of shading, to quantify the impact of shading on invertebrate communities. Low bridges, with HW ratio <0.

Comparison of benthic invertebrate assemblages at Spartina alterniflora marshes reestablished after an oil spill and existing marshes in the Arthur Kill (NY/NJ).

In January 1990, an oil spill damaged salt marshes along the banks of the Arthur Kill (New York and New Jersey, USA). In the years following the spill, Spartina alterniflora seedlings were planted at a number of the oil damaged sites and successfully reestablished at these sites. In 1996, the National Marine Fisheries Service began a study to compare the benthic invertebrate assemblages at the reestablished S.