FLOWERING AND BIOMASS ALLOCATION IN US ATLANTIC COAST SPARTINA ALTERNIFLORA
FLOWERING AND BIOMASS ALLOCATION IN US ATLANTIC COAST SPARTINA ALTERNIFLORA
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DOI：
10.3732/ajb.1400534
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发表时间：
2015-05-01
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Leslie, Heather M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Crosby, Sarah C.;Ivens-Duran, Morgan;Leslie, Heather M.
研究前提：盐沼是高产且有价值的生态系统，提供人们赖以生存的许多服务。互花米草（禾本科）是构建和维护盐沼的基础物种。尽管该物种很重要，但其许多基本生殖生物学尚不清楚，包括开花物候、种子生产以及开花对生长和生物量分配的影响。我们试图更好地了解这些生活史特征，并利用这些知识来考虑该物种如何受到气候变化的影响。方法：我们在纬度尺度（沿美国大西洋海岸）、区域尺度（新英格兰境内）和局部尺度（沼泽内的亚生境）检查了互花米草开花和种子生产的时间和空间模式，并通过田间和温室研究确定了开花对生长分配的影响。主要结果：花茎密度没有变化沿着纬度梯度，而在局部尺度上，淹没程度较低的帕内亚生境中的植物比经常淹没的亚生境中的植物产生更少的花朵和种子。我们还发现，生物量分配从地上到地下的转变在时间上与开花物候有关。结论：我们预计环境变化将影响种子生产，而与开花的物候关系将导致地下生产的限制，从而影响沼泽海拔的增加。盐沼为探索植物生态与生态系统功能之间的相互作用提供了一个优秀的模型系统，从而能够更好地预测气候变化的影响。
Premise of the study: Salt marshes are highly productive and valuable ecosystems, providing many services on which people depend. Spartina alterniflora Loisel (Poaceae) is a foundation species that builds and maintains salt marshes. Despite this species' importance, much of its basic reproductive biology is not well understood, including flowering phenology, seed production, and the effects of flowering on growth and biomass allocation. We sought to better understand these life history traits and use that knowledge to consider how this species may be affected by climate change.Methods: We examined temporal and spatial patterns in flowering and seed production in S. alterniflora at a latitudinal scale (along the U.S. Atlantic coast), regional scale (within New England), and local scale (among subhabitats within marshes) and determined the impact of flowering on growth allocation using field and greenhouse studies.Key results: Flowering stem density did not vary along a latitudinal gradient, while at the local scale plants in the less submerged panne subhabitats produced fewer flowers and seeds than those in more frequently submerged subhabitats. We also found that a shift in biomass allocation from above to belowground was temporally related to flowering phenology.Conclusions: We expect that environmental change will affect seed production and that the phenological relationship with flowering will result in limitations to belowground production and thus affect marsh elevation gain. Salt marshes provide an excellent model system for exploring the interactions between plant ecology and ecosystem functioning, enabling better predictions of climate change impacts.