Seasonal changes in soil TN and SOC in a seawall-reclaimed marsh in the Yellow River Delta, China

Coastal salt marsh has been globally fragmented by man-made coastal seawalls. However, the dynamic changes in community structure and abiotic environments in these regenerated marsh after seawall reclamation are largely unknown. We analyzed the seasonal changes of soil nutrient pools and the direction effects on them. The results showed that soil total nitrogen (TN) has decreased but soil organic carbon (SOC) has increased from May to September. Direction has influenced the patterns and seasonal changes in soil TN and SOC. The potential influencing factors have been largely contributed to soil salinity reduction, vegetation growth, microorganism activities with different seasonal characteristics. Researches on seasonal dynamic of marsh regeneration after seawall reclamation can provide us helpful information to understand mechanism of marsh restoration and design coastal marsh restoration projects.