Can the Non-native Salt Marsh Halophyte Spartina alterniflora Threaten Native Seagrass (Zostera japonica) Habitats? A Case Study in the Yellow River Delta, China.

ABSTRACT: Seagrass meadows are critical ecosystems, and they are among the most threatened habitats on the planet. As an anthropogenic biotic invader, Spartina alterniflora Loisel. competes with native plants, threatens native ecosystems and coastal aquaculture, and may cause local biodiversity to decline. The distribution area of the exotic species S. alterniflora in the Yellow River Delta had been expanding to ca.4,000 ha from 1990 to 2018. In this study, we reported, for the first time, the competitive effects of the exotic plant (S. alterniflora) on seagrass (Zostera japonica Asch. & Graebn.) by field investigation and a transplant experiment in the Yellow River Delta. Within the first 3 months of the field experiment, S. alterniflora had pushed forward 14 m in

SUBMITTER: Yue S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8173042 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature