Invertebrates play a vital role in salt marsh ecosystems by cycling nutrients and forming connections between trophic levels. Sediment accretion in marshes constantly builds substrate for invertebrates to exploit. However, during winter storm Grayson in January of 2018, ice rafting caused a large deposition of atypically thick sediment (an average of 30.1+/- 2.1mm) across extensive areas of the Great Marsh in Massachusetts. We hypothesized that sediment addition would impact the abundance and diversity of invertebrates in the marsh, since the literature suggests marsh taxa are sensitive to disturbance and are slow to recover after one. Sediment cores were collected from 3 sites in Massachusetts that received ice-rafted sediment to identify and quantify benthic macroinvertebrates. Preliminary analyses show that diversity and total animal count were not significantly impacted by the event. 20 taxa were found at the sites using taxonomic methods. Oligochaeta and Ecrobia truncata were the most abundant taxa. A companion study is ongoing to see if genomic analyses provide a more complete representation of the sediment community.
