Geographic variation in plant community structure of salt marshes: species, functional and phylogenetic perspectives.

ABSTRACT: In general, community similarity is thought to decay with distance; however, this view may be complicated by the relative roles of different ecological processes at different geographical scales, and by the compositional perspective (e.g. species, functional group and phylogenetic lineage) used. Coastal salt marshes are widely distributed worldwide, but no studies have explicitly examined variation in salt marsh plant community composition across geographical scales, and from species, functional and phylogenetic perspectives. Based on studies in other ecosystems, we hypothesized that, in coastal salt marshes, community turnover would be more rapid at local versus larger geographical scales; and that community turnover patterns would diverge among compositional perspectives, with a greater

SUBMITTER: Guo H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4444317 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature