The Evolutionary and Ecological Significance of Natural Disturbance in a New England Salt Marsh

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9420186 Brewer Ecological succession is one of the most widely studied processes in community ecology. Nonetheless, while numerous ecological models of community dynamics have been developed to explain successional responses to disturbance, very little is known about historical effects of disturbance on plant community dynamics. The main goal of the proposed research is to explore the historical effects of wrack-burial disturbance on plant community dynamics in a New England salt marsh. To do this, three experimental approaches will be employed. First, replicated wrack disturbances in three marsh areas with known differences in disturbance history will be created to test the hypothesis that marsh plants with different disturbance histories respond differently to disturbance. Secondly, disturbance history influences on intraspecific variation in clonal morphology will be quantified with common garden experiments in three co-occurring high-marsh perennial species. Third, the hypothesis that disturbance history influences the intensity of interspecific interactions will be tested with an additive series of competition experiments in the greenhouse. %%% This study will explicitly examine the importance of considering disturbance history in studying plant community dynamics and specifically will examine the role of disturbance frequency as a selective force on marsh plants. The results of this study will explore an important interface between plant population biology and community dynamics that has received surprisingly little attention.