Development of soil halinity classes for Connecticut tidal marshes

A soil's halinity, or ocean derived salinity, can determine much about its use, capabilities, and ecology. This paper uses measurements of electrical conductivity (in a 1 part soil and 5 parts deionized water by volume mixture, EC1:5vol) of estuarine soil samples stratified by ecological community to correlate soil halinity to vegetative community on the Connecticut River. The communities studied here are (in decreasing order of halinity): 1) Low salt marsh/Spartina alterniflora; 2) High salt marsh/Spartina patens, Distichlis spicata, and Juncus gerardii; 3) Back salt marsh/Bolboschoenus and Schoenoplectus species; 4) Brackish marsh/Iva frutescens and Panicum virgatum; and 5) Tidal fresh marsh/Typha and Phragmites species. Out of these, four distinct tidal marsh communities (low salt marsh, high salt marsh, back salt marsh, and tidal fresh) were found to have significantly different mean halinities. These results are a starting place for generating a regional and national soil halinity classification system, and the methods are recommended for use in other estuaries for purposes of ecological classification, soil mapping, and general land/habitat management.