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Microtopography is often observed and studied in plant communities where environ- mental conditions limit distribution, for example in desert and peatland ecosystems. Brackish marshes, relatively poorly studied despite their importance in many coastal areas, frequently display similar fine-scale variability. In these systems, limits to plant distribution derive from the combination of flooding and salinity fluctuations. We examined the relationship between spatial variability of veg- etation and biogeochemical features of sediment in a brackish tidal ecosystem in 2 adjacent Spartina spp. marshes of differing hydrology and vegetation distribution. The first, a low-elevation, interior marsh, was frequently flooded and poorly drained, and it exhibited distinct hummock/hollow topog- raphy. The plant distribution was reflected in patchy sediment biogeochemical features at the same scale. The second marsh, on a well-drained, elevated streamside bank, contained homogeneous veg- etation cover and relatively uniform sediment chemistry. The formation of the hummock/hollow topography in the interior marsh appeared to be controlled by the plants, as they maximized growth in a high-stress, variable environment. The plants favorably modified discrete patches of these envi- ronments to such a degree that the hummock sediment biogeochemistry was very similar to that of the higher-elevation homogeneous marsh. The microtopography of this interior brackish marsh strongly resembles that of other stress-impacted ecosystems.

Microtopographic variability in plant distribution and biogeochemistry in a brackish-marsh system