Editing Salt marsh (section)

==== Abundance and diversity of sulfate-reducing chemolithoautotrophs ====
Bacterial chemolithoautotrophs in salt marshes include sulfate-reducing bacteria. In these ecosystems, up to 50% of sedimentary [[Remineralisation|remineralization]] can be attributed to sulfate reduction.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last1=Nie |first1=Ming |last2=Wang |first2=Meng |last3=Li |first3=Bo |date=2009-12-01 |title=Effects of salt marsh invasion by Spartina alterniflora on sulfate-reducing bacteria in the Yangtze River estuary, China |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925857409002201 |journal=Ecological Engineering |volume=35 |issue=12 |pages=1804–1808 |doi=10.1016/j.ecoleng.2009.08.002 |bibcode=2009EcEng..35.1804N |issn=0925-8574|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The dominant class of sulfate-reducing bacteria in salt marshes tends to be Deltaproteobacteria.<ref name=":1" /> Some examples of deltaproteobacteria that are found in salt marshes are species of genera ''Desulfobulbus'', ''Desulfuromonas'', and ''Desulfovibrio''.<ref name=":1" />

The abundance and diversity of chemolithoautotrophs in salt marshes is largely determined by the composition of plant species in the salt marsh ecosystem.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bowen |first1=Jennifer L |last2=Crump |first2=Byron C |last3=Deegan |first3=Linda A |last4=Hobbie |first4=John E |date=2009-05-07 |title=Salt marsh sediment bacteria: their distribution and response to external nutrient inputs |url=https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2009.44 |journal=The ISME Journal |volume=3 |issue=8 |pages=924–934 |doi=10.1038/ismej.2009.44 |pmid=19421233 |bibcode=2009ISMEJ...3..924B |issn=1751-7362}}</ref> Each type of salt-marsh plant has varying lengths of [[growing season]]s, varying [[Photosynthesis|photosynthetic]] rates, and they all lose varying amounts of organic matter to the ocean, resulting in varying carbon-inputs to the ecosystem. The results from an experiment that was done in a salt marsh in the Yangtze estuary in China,<ref name=":1" /> suggested that both the [[species richness]] and total [[Abundance (ecology)|abundance]] of sulfate-reducing bacterial communities increased when a new plant, ''S. alterniflora'', with a higher C-input to the ecosystem was introduced.<ref name=":1" /> Although chemolithotrophs produce their own carbon, they still depend on the C-input from salt marshes because of the indirect impact it has on the amount of viable [[electron donor]]s, such as reduced sulfur compounds.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kwon |first1=Man Jae |last2=O’Loughlin |first2=Edward J. |last3=Boyanov |first3=Maxim I. |last4=Brulc |first4=Jennifer M. |last5=Johnston |first5=Eric R. |last6=Kemner |first6=Kenneth M. |last7=Antonopoulos |first7=Dionysios A. |date=2016-01-22 |title=Impact of Organic Carbon Electron Donors on Microbial Community Development under Iron- and Sulfate-Reducing Conditions |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=e0146689 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0146689 |doi-access=free |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=4723079 |pmid=26800443|bibcode=2016PLoSO..1146689K }}</ref> The concentration of reduced sulfur compounds, as well as other possible [[electron donor]]s, increases with more organic-matter [[decomposition]] (by other organisms). Therefore if the ecosystem contains more decomposing organic matter, as with plants with high photosynthetic and littering rates, there will be more [[electron donor]]s available to the bacteria, and thus more sulfate reduction is possible. As a result, the [[Abundance (ecology)|abundance]] of sulfate-reducing bacteria increases. The high-photosynthetic-rate, high-litter-rate salt marsh plant, ''S. alterniflora,'' was discovered to withstand high sulfur concentrations in the soil, which would normally be somewhat toxic to plants.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Zheng |first1=Yu |last2=Bu |first2=Nai-Shun |last3=Long |first3=Xi-En |last4=Sun |first4=Jing |last5=He |first5=Chi-Quan |last6=Liu |first6=Xiao-Yan |last7=Cui |first7=Jun |last8=Liu |first8=Dong-Xiu |last9=Chen |first9=Xue-Ping |date=2017-02-01 |title=Sulfate reducer and sulfur oxidizer respond differentially to the invasion of Spartina alterniflora in estuarine salt marsh of China |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092585741630653X |journal=Ecological Engineering |volume=99 |pages=182–190 |doi=10.1016/j.ecoleng.2016.11.031 |bibcode=2017EcEng..99..182Z |issn=0925-8574|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The [[Abundance (ecology)|abundance]] of chemolithoautotrophs in salt marshes also varies temporally as a result of being somewhat dependent on the organic C-input from plants in the ecosystem. Since plants grow most throughout the summer, and usually begin to lose [[biomass]] around fall during their late stage, the highest input of decomposing organic matter is in the fall. Thus seasonally, the abundance of chemolithotrophs in salt marshes is highest in autumn.<ref name=":1" />