Community Structure and Abiotic Determinants of Salt Marsh Plant Zonation Vary Across Topographic Gradients |
| |
| Authors: | Bao-Shan CUI Qiang HE Yuan AN |
| |
| Affiliation: | (1) State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China;(2) Department of Plant Science, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China |
| |
| Abstract: | We investigated compositions of plant communities and their abiotic determinants in the Yellow River estuary, China. Along a topographic gradient, we quantified plant compositions and abiotic factors in different vegetation zones, and examined the relationships between plant communities and abiotic factors using canonical correspondence analysis and the effects of vegetation shading using a removal experiment. The relationships between plant communities and abiotic factors differed between high elevations and low elevations. Salinity and flooding oppositely related with distributions of plant communities at low elevations, but they appeared to operate synergically at high elevations. The effects of vegetation shading were found to vary across the topographic gradient, indicating spatial variations in potential positive interactions among plants. These results suggest that spatial variations in determinants of community structure should be addressed in future studies in estuarine and coastal systems, as well as in other natural habitats. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
