Department of Earth System Science

Researchers have a poor understanding of the mechanisms that allow freshwater marshes to achieve rates of net primary production (NPP) that are higher than those reported for most other types of ecosystems. We used an 8-year record of the gross primary production (GPP) and NPP at the San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh (SJFM) in Southern California to determine the relative importance of GPP and carbon use efficiency (CUE; the ratio of total NPP to GPP calculated as NPP GPP⁻¹) in determining marsh NPP. GPP was calculated from continuous eddy covariance measurements and NPP was calculated from annual harvests. The NPP at the SJFM was typical of highly productive freshwater marshes, while the GPP was similar to that reported for other ecosystem types, including some with comparatively low NPPs. NPP was weakly related to GPP in the same year, and was better correlated with the GPP summed from late in the previous year's growing season to early in the current growing season. This lag was attributed to carbohydrate reserves, which supplement carbon for new leaf growth in the early growing season of the current year. The CUE at the SJFM for the 8-year period was 0.61 ± 0.05. This CUE is larger than that reported for tropical, temperate, and boreal ecosystems, and indicates that high marsh NPP is attributable to a high CUE and not a high GPP. This study underscores the importance of autotrophic respiration and carbon allocation in determining marsh NPP.