Early Stages of Sea-Level Rise Lead To Decreased Salt Marsh Plant Diversity through Stronger Competition in Mediterranean-Climate Marshes.

ABSTRACT: Climate change shuffles species ranges and creates novel interactions that may either buffer communities against climate change or exacerbate its effect. For instance, facilitation can become more prevalent in salt marshes under stressful conditions while competition is stronger in benign environments. Sea-level rise (SLR) is a consequence of climate change that affects the distribution of stress from inundation and salinity. To determine how interactions early in SLR are affected by changes in these two stressors in Mediterranean-climate marshes, we transplanted marsh turfs to lower elevations to simulate SLR and manipulated cover of the dominant plant species, Salicornia pacifica (formerly Salicornia virginica). We found that both S. pacifica and the subordinate species were affected by

SUBMITTER: Noto AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5245857 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature