PRODUCERS 



HERBIVORES 



CARNIVORES 



Spartina 



Algae 



Proktiitia 

 Orehtlimum 



Othar htrbivorout intactt 



Uca 3 Stsorma 

 Modiolus — 



Littorina 

 *- Oligochaete 

 Streblospio 

 Capitella 

 Manayunkia 



Spitf«rt 



PoMarhiM 



Dro^onfliM 



Eurytium 

 Clopptr Rail 

 Raccoon 



Figure 4. Georgia low marsh food web (redrawn from Teal, 1962) 



The productivity and utilization of high marsh has received less 

 attention than that of low marsh. Indications are that net produc- 

 tion of some high marsh may equal that of many low marsh. The im- 

 portant difference, however, is that the export mechanism of frequent 

 tidal flushing is absent in high marsh. Consequently, much of the 

 high marsh biomass goes into peat formation, in situ, rather than 

 into the estuarine food chain. For this reason, high marsh appears 

 to be of much less direct value to the estuary although it is effec- 

 tive for shore stabilization and damping of storm surges. 



(3) Marsh Animals . The rigorous environment of the salt 

 marsh sharply limits the number of animals that live there. These 

 areas are used by birds such as herons, rails, sandpipers, geese, 

 ducks, and songbirds and by raccoons. A much larger population of 

 animals lives in or on the mud surface. The more conspicuous are 

 fiddler crabs, mussels, clams, and periwinkles. Less obvious but 

 more numerous are annelid and oligochaete worms and insect larvae. 



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