TY - JOUR

T1 - Plant distribution and stand characteristics in brackish marshes

T2 - Unravelling the roles of abiotic factors and interspecific competition

AU - Carus, Jana

AU - Heuner, Maike

AU - Paul, Maike

AU - Schröder, Boris

N1 - Funding information: This study was mainly financed by the research programme KLIWAS (Impacts of climate change on waterways and navigation – Searching for options of adaptation) of the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) . We thank all the people who helped with the fieldwork, especially Joanna La? and Michael Unkelbach and the Environmental Modelling working group at the University of Potsdam for valuable advice and support. We furthermore thank the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) for helpful discussions and providing equipment and data. Thanks to Kai Jensen and one anonymous reviewer for providing valuable comments on the manuscript. BS acknowledges funding by the German Science Foundation (grants nos. SCHR1000/6-2 and SCHR1000/8-2 ) as well as by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (joint project COMTESS – Sustainable Coastal Land Management: Trade-offs in Ecosystem Services, grant no. 01LL0911C ). MP acknowledges funding by the German Science Foundation (grant no. PA 2547/1-1 ).

PY - 2017/9/5

Y1 - 2017/9/5

N2 - Due to increasing pressure on estuarine marshes from sea level rise and river training, there is a growing need to understand how species-environment relationships influence the zonation and growth of tidal marsh vegetation. In the present study, we investigated the distribution and stand characteristics of the two key brackish marsh species Bolboschoenus maritimus and Phragmites australis in the Elbe estuary together with several abiotic habitat factors. We then tested the effect of these habitat factors on plant growth and zonation with generalised linear models (GLMs). Our study provides detailed information on the importance of single habitat factors and their interactions for controlling the distribution patterns and stand characteristics of two key marsh species. Our results suggest that flow velocity is the main factor influencing species distribution and stand characteristics and together with soil-water salinity even affects the inundation tolerance of the two specie investigated here. Additionally, inundation height and duration as well as interspecific competition helped explain the distribution patterns and stand characteristics. By identifying the drivers of marsh zonation and stand characteristics and quantifying their effects, this study provides useful information for evaluating a future contribution of tidal marsh vegetation to ecosystem-based shore protection.

AB - Due to increasing pressure on estuarine marshes from sea level rise and river training, there is a growing need to understand how species-environment relationships influence the zonation and growth of tidal marsh vegetation. In the present study, we investigated the distribution and stand characteristics of the two key brackish marsh species Bolboschoenus maritimus and Phragmites australis in the Elbe estuary together with several abiotic habitat factors. We then tested the effect of these habitat factors on plant growth and zonation with generalised linear models (GLMs). Our study provides detailed information on the importance of single habitat factors and their interactions for controlling the distribution patterns and stand characteristics of two key marsh species. Our results suggest that flow velocity is the main factor influencing species distribution and stand characteristics and together with soil-water salinity even affects the inundation tolerance of the two specie investigated here. Additionally, inundation height and duration as well as interspecific competition helped explain the distribution patterns and stand characteristics. By identifying the drivers of marsh zonation and stand characteristics and quantifying their effects, this study provides useful information for evaluating a future contribution of tidal marsh vegetation to ecosystem-based shore protection.

KW - Bolboschoenus maritimus

KW - Elbe estuary

KW - Flow velocity

KW - Inundation

KW - Phragmites australis

KW - Soil-water salinity

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029177820&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ecss.2017.06.038

DO - 10.1016/j.ecss.2017.06.038

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85029177820

VL - 196

SP - 237

EP - 247

JO - Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

JF - Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

SN - 0272-7714

ER -