Grubbing of roots and rhizomes of salt-marsh graminoids by lesser snow geese (Anser caerulescens caerulescens) at La Perouse Bay, Manitoba, on the Hudson Bay coast, has resulted in a vegetational mosaic. This two year study used soil blocks taken from each type of plot, including high biomass, low biomass and bare sediment. The biomass was clipped from the surface of the soil blocks; measurements of salinity, water content and redox potential were also taken and used for biomass determinations. Overall, the results showed the sodium concentration increase in July and decrease at the end of August. Soil water, in bare sediment plots, had higher sodium concentrations than soil water from the other two types. The soil water was highest in the spring and, again, at end of fall; while mid-summer had the lowest soil water. There were no differences in the redox potential between sites. Vegetation influences salinity as well as evaporative loss of water, which leaves the salts behind.
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