Abstract:

We quantified the effects of altering salinity (5, 15, 25, 35 ppt) and the Deepwater Horizon Oil spill on greenhouse gas (GHG) (CH4, CO2, N2O) production on laboratory incubated soils from oiled and unoiled Terrebonne and Barataria Bay salt marsh sites. These sites include 2 sets of paired oiled and unoiled marshes in both the Terrebonne Bay (Bay LaFleur and northern Lake Barre regions) and western Barataria Bay (north of Grand Isle, LA) regions of coastal LA. Soils were collected at 5, 10, 15, and 20 m from the marsh edge at each site and pooled for salinity manipulations. Additionally, we measured a series of soil properties (water content, organic matter, organic C, total N and CN ratios) on these pooled soils.

Suggested Citation:

Roberts, Brian. 2016. Response of Terrebonne Bay and western Barataria Bay marsh soil greenhouse gas production to salinity manipulations. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7G15XSG

Purpose:

This dataset was developed as part of a research project investigating the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on salt marsh biogeochemistry. This component of the CWC research effort addressed the following questions: 1) Do salinity alterations influence greenhouse gas production rates?; 2) Do responses differ between greenhouse gases? 3) Are these results different between oiled and unoiled marshes?

Data Parameters and Units:

Region- Region of collection (TB- Terrebonne Bay; WB- western Barataria Bay) Site- Site identifier Latitude (decimal degrees) Longitude (decimal degrees) Oil status- Indicates whether the marsh received Macondo Oil (oiled) or not (unoiled) Date of collection--date soils were collected in field, pooled and incubations began Field salinity-salinity measured in field (psu) Incubation salinity-salinity soils incubated at for measurement of greenhouse gas production (ppt) CO2 production- (nanomoles per gram dry weight of soil per hour) CH4 production- (nanomol per gram dry weight of soil per hour) Soil organic matter- soil organic matter content (%) of the top 5cm of soil at site (pooled from all 4 cores) Soil organic C- soil organic carbon content (%) of the top 5cm of soil at site (pooled from all 4 cores) Soil total N- soil total nitrogen content (%) of the top 5cm of soil at site (pooled from all 4 cores) Soil CN- soil molar carbon to nitrogen ratio (mol:mol) of the top 5cm of soil at site (pooled from all 4 cores) Soil water content- gravimetric soil water content (%) of the top 5cm of soil at site (pooled from all 4 cores)

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