This is an aerial view of the flume marsh (Sep 96, courtesy Ron
Kneib), looking south from the edge of the upper Duplin River
toward the mainland. Several pieces of important saltmarsh-
ecological research have been done here: i) examination of rates of
import/export of organic carbon by Alice Chalmers and Dick Wiegert
(early 80s); ii) examination of fates of water-column bacteria in
flooding tidal waters by Christiane Krambeck and me (early 90s);
iii) reexamination of rates of cordgrass productivity and response
to nitrogen subsidy by Ting Dai and Dick Wiegert (late 90s). I am
currently using this as my "Upper Duplin" site for my examination
of seasonal/interannual patterns of change in living-fungal
standing crops and productivities in naturally decaying smooth
cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora)
and black needlerush (Juncus roemerianus). The dark
green/gray patches in the marsh near the mainland are needlerush
zones. The flume itself is no longer being maintained, and has
mostly collapsed; you can just make out the remnants of the
boardwalks running from the still-functional Duplin-monitoring
station south to the mainland. See Newell SY, Krambeck C, 1995,
J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 190:79-95; Newell SY, Porter D, 2000, pp. 159-185, in
Weinstein & Kreeger, Concepts and Controversies in Tidal Marsh
Ecology, Kluwer.