Interactions among salt marsh plants vary geographically but not latitudinally along the California coast.

ABSTRACT: The strength of species interactions often varies geographically and locally with environmental conditions. Competitive interactions are predicted to be stronger in benign environments while facilitation is expected to be stronger in harsh ones. We tested these ideas with an aboveground neighbor removal experiment at six salt marshes along the California coast. We determined the effect of removals of either the dominant species, Salicornia pacifica, or the subordinate species on plant cover, aboveground biomass and community composition, as well as soil salinity and moisture. We found that S. pacifica consistently competed with the subordinate species and that the strength of competition varied among sites. In contrast with other studies showing that dominant species facilita

SUBMITTER: Noto AE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5574795 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature