Ecology of a mediterranean-climate estuarine wetland at Carpinteria, California: plant distributions and soil salinity in the upper marsh

We examined seasonal changes in soil salinity in four different vegetative zones in a mediterranean-climate estuarine wetland in southern California. Each zone had a characteristic seasonal pattern of soil salinity: (i) the low marsh zone was high in salinity throughout the year; (ii) the salt flat zone was hypersaline throughout the year; (iii) the transition zone was hypersaline in the summer and fall, and low in salinity in the winter and spring; and (iv) the nonflooded grassland was low in salinity throughout the year. The transition zone was densely populated with winter annuals that were distributed along gradients of elevation and soil salinity. This occurrence of annuals is a characteristic feature of mediterranean-climate marshes. We found that the relative growth rates and the germination of each of these annuals in experimental solutions of different salinities corresponded with the winter and spring soil salinities of the subzones they occupied in the field.

[1]  Roderick Hunt,et al.  Relative growth-rate: its range and adaptive significance in a local flora. , 1975 .

[2]  M. Khan,et al.  THE EFFECT OF SALINITY AND TEMPERATURE ON THE GERMINATION OF POLYMORPHIC SEEDS AND GROWTH OF ATRIPLEX TRIANGULARIS WILLD. , 1984 .

[3]  M. O. Hill,et al.  TWINSPAN: a FORTRAN program of arranging multivariate data in an ordered two way table by classification of individual and attributes , 1979 .

[4]  J. C. Beatley.  Survival of Winter Annuals in the Northern Mojave Desert. , 1967, Ecology.

[5]  R. Congdon,et al.  Germination and growth of Ruppia polycarpa and Lepilaena cylindrocarpa in ephemeral saltmarsh pools, Westernport bay, Victoria , 1986 .

[6]  J. Zedler,et al.  The ecology of Tijuana Estuary, California: An estuarine profile , 1986 .

[7]  William L. Pritchett,et al.  Properties and Management of Forest Soils , 1980 .

[8]  J. Harper.  Population Biology of Plants , 1979 .

[9]  Y. Waisel.  Biology of halophytes , 1972 .

[10]  Salinity tolerance in Spergularia marina , 1985 .

[11]  R. W. Frey,et al.  Coastal Salt Marshes , 1985 .

[12]  J. Zedler.  Salt marsh community structure in the Tijuana Estuary, California , 1977 .

[13]  P. Bridgewater,et al.  Peripheral vegetation of Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary, Western Australia , 1981 .

[14]  A. Cooper.  THE EFFECTS OF SALINITY AND WATERLOGGING ON THE GROWTH AND CATION UPTAKE OF SALT MARSH PLANTS , 1982 .

[15]  R. Hunt.  Plant growth analysis , 1980 .

[16]  B. E. Mahall,et al.  The Ecotone Between Spartina Foliosa Trin. and Salicornia Virginica L. in Salt Marshes of Northern San Francisco Bay: II. Soil Water and Salinity , 1976 .

[17]  C. Hopkinson,et al.  Effects of Salinity and Drainage on the Growth of Three Salt Marsh Grasses , 1978, Botanical Gazette.

[18]  I. Ungar,et al.  The effects of time of seed production on the germination response of Spergularia marina , 1983 .

[19]  V. J. Chapman,et al.  Salt Marshes and Salt Deserts of the World. , 1960 .

[20]  A. Freijsen,et al.  DIFFERENCES IN GROWTH RATE AND SALT TOLERANCE BETWEEN VARIETIES OF THE HALOPHYTE CENTAURIUM LITTORALE (TURNER) GILMOUR, AND THEIR ECOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE , 1975 .

[21]  Aaron M. Ellison,et al.  Determinants of Pattern in a New England Salt Marsh Plant Community , 1987 .

[22]  J. Rozema.  influence of salinity, inundation and temperature on the germination of some halophytes and non-halophytes , 1975 .

[23]  J. Rozema,et al.  EFFECTS OF SALINITY AND INUNDATION ON THE GROWTH OF AGROSTIS STOLONIFERA AND JUNCUS GERARDII , 1977 .

[24]  C. Lowe,et al.  The island and coastal vegetation and flora of the northern part of the Gulf of California , 1976, Contributions to Science.