Nutrients from spawning salmon influence leaf area, tissue density, and nitrogen-15 in riparian plant leaves.

ABSTRACT: Nutrient subsidies have significant impacts on ecosystems by connecting disjunct habitats, often through long-distance animal migrations. Salmon migrations on the North Pacific coasts provide these kinds of nutrient subsidies from senescent fish at the end of their life cycle, which can have significant ecological effects on terrestrial species. This can include impacts on individuals, populations, and communities, where shifts in community composition towards plant species that indicate nitrogen-rich soils have been documented. We investigated the effects of variation in salmon spawning density on the leaf traits of four common riparian plant species on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. We found that all plant species had higher foliar salmon-derived nitrogen on streams with

SUBMITTER: Dennert AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10877449 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature