Results of a one-year evaluation of aboveground production of four dominant salt-marsh angiosperms show a distinctly higher level of production as compared with reported results for similar studies of salt-marsh vegetations in the Netherlands. Net aboveground production estimates based on production of both living and dead matter varied considerably depending on how the data were computed: Spartina anglica : 1,162 to 1,649 g m-2 yr-1; Triglochin maritima: 568 to 783 g m-2 yr-1; Halimione portulacoides: 790 to 1,434 g m-2 yr-1; Elytrigia pungens: 474 to 878 g m-2 yr-1. Aboveground production estimates, using a paired plot method, are also strongly dependent on the computation of the data and ranged for S. anglica from 2,139 to 2,659 g m-2 yr-1 and for E. pungens from 1,416 to 1,787 g m-2 yr-1. Evaluation of the results of the production estimates suggested that the actual aboveground production is best approached using a paired plot method. |