Community Ecology of Salt Marshes

Pennings, Steven C.; He, Qiang

doi:10.1017/9781316888933.006

Cited by 7 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 238 publications

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“…The realized niche is expected to be reduced in size as a result of interspecific competition (Bertness, 1991a;Ungar, 1998). The use of a monotonically increasing logistic function for habitat quality is justified by the empirical observation that halophytes are capable of living at elevations higher than where they are normally found if competitors are absent, whereas vegetation lower limit is set by plant tolerance to physical stresses (Pennings and He, 2021). Although these physical stresses are, in most cases, not fully identified, most of them (e.g., flooding frequency and duration, salinity, oxygen sufficiency, temperature) depend to some degree on the local hydroperiod, which is in turn primarily determined by the elevation of the marsh surface (Morris et al, 2002).…”

Section: Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While the general mechanisms producing zonation patterns of vegetation in coastal salt marshes may be universal (Grime, 1977;Grace and Wetzel, 1981;Keddy, 1989;Pennings and Bertness, 2001), the importance of particular physical stresses is likely to vary geographically (Pennings et al, 2005). Particularly, salinity stress probably plays a much more important role in mediating plant zonation patterns at lower latitudes, as testified by the presence, in low-latitude marshes, of unvegetated salt pans that occur where soil salinities exceed levels that plants can tolerate (Pennings and Bertness, 1999;Pennings and Bertness, 2001;Pennings and He, 2021). In contrast, unvegetated areas in mid-and high-latitude marshes typically result from disturbance or waterlogging, rather than from high salinities (Pennings and Bertness, 2001;Mariotti et al, 2020).…”

Section: Model Limitations and Future Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, in addition to salinity, many other abiotic and biotic factors can potentially modify habitat quality and should therefore be considered (Pennings and Bertness, 2001;Pennings and He, 2021). Biotic factors are mostly related to the feeding and grazing activities of domestic and wild fauna.…”

Section: Model Limitations and Future Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The percent vegetation cover for each vegetation class is also reported in the legend. zonation patterns in salt marsh communities (Pennings and Bertness, 2001;Pennings and He, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to this paradigm, which is consistent with results from non-saline wetlands (Grace and Wetzel, 1981;Keddy, 1989), marsh halophytes could potentially colonize supratidal freshwater environments, where they are however outcompeted by glycophytes that are more fitted to hyposaline conditions. In view of the above, it is generally hypothesized that the lower limit of each species is determined by abiotic factors mostly related to marsh elevation and local climate (e.g., salinity, hydroperiod, redox potential, nutrient availability, soil moisture and chemistry, local microtopography, hydrodynamic stresses), while the upper limit is set by biotic factors (e.g., competition-facilitation and tradeoffs thereof, physiological adjustment, seedling recruitment, emergence and growth strategy, herbivory predation), among which interspecific competition is key (Lee and Kim, 2018;Sarika and Zikos, 2020;Pennings and He, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Minimalist Model of Salt-Marsh Vegetation Dynamics Driven by Species Competition and Dispersal

et al. 2022

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We present a new bidimensional, spatially-explicit ecological model describing the dynamics of halophytic vegetation in tidal saline wetlands. Existing vegetation models employ relatively simple deterministic or stochastic mechanisms, and are driven by local environmental conditions. In the proposed model, in contrast, vegetation dynamics depend not only on the marsh local habitat, but also on spatially-explicit mechanisms of dispersal and competition among multiple interacting species. The role of habitat quality, here determined by the local elevation relative to the mean sea level as a proxy for environmental conditions, is mathematically modeled by a logistic function that represents the fundamental (theoretical) niche of each halophytic species. Hence, the model does not artificially impose any constraints to the ability of a species to colonize elevated areas where it is usually not observed: such limitations naturally arise through competition with fitter species across marsh topographic gradients. We qualitatively test our model against field data based on a suitable assemblage of focus species, and perform a sensitivity analysis aimed at determining how dynamic equilibria in vegetation distributions are affected by changes in model input parameters. Results indicate that the model is robust and can predict realistic vegetation distributions and species-richness patterns. More importantly, the model is also able to effectively reproduce the outcomes of classical ecological experiments, wherein a species is transplanted to an area outside its realized niche. A direct comparison shows that previous models not accounting for dispersal and interspecific competitions are unable to reproduce such dynamics. Our model can be easily integrated into virtually any existing morphodynamic model, thereby strengthening our ability to simulate the coupled biotic and abiotic evolution of salt marshes under changing climate forcings.

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Section: Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Model Limitations and Future Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Model Limitations and Future Developmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The percent vegetation cover for each vegetation class is also reported in the legend. zonation patterns in salt marsh communities (Pennings and Bertness, 2001;Pennings and He, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Minimalist Model of Salt-Marsh Vegetation Dynamics Driven by Species Competition and Dispersal

et al. 2022

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Hydrodynamic feedbacks of salt-marsh loss in shallow microtidal back-barrier systems

Finotello

Tognin

Carniello

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Hydrodynamic feedbacks of salt-marsh loss in the shallow microtidal back-barrier lagoon of Venice (Italy)

Finotello

Tognin

Carniello

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Extensive loss of salt marshes in back-barrier tidal embayments is undergoing worldwide as a consequence of land-use changes, wave-driven lateral marsh erosion, and relative sea-level rise compounded by mineral sediment starvation. However, how salt-marsh loss affects the hydrodynamics of back-barrier systems and feeds back into their morphodynamic evolution is still poorly understood. Here we use a depth-averaged numerical hydrodynamic model to investigate the feedback between salt-marsh erosion and hydrodynamic changes in the Venice Lagoon, a large microtidal back-barrier system in northeastern Italy. Numerical simulations are carried out for past morphological configurations of the lagoon dating back up to 1887, as well as for hypothetical scenarios involving additional marsh erosion relative to the present-day conditions. We demonstrate that the progressive loss of salt marshes significantly impacted the Lagoon hydrodynamics, both directly and indirectly, by amplifying high-tide water levels, promoting the formation of higher and more powerful wind waves, and critically affecting tidal asymmetries across the lagoon. We also argue that further losses of salt marshes, partially prevented by restoration projects and manmade protection of salt-marsh margins against wave erosion, which have been put in place over the past few decades, limited the detrimental effects of marsh loss on the lagoon hydrodynamics, while not substantially changing the risk of flooding in urban lagoon settlements. Compared to previous studies, our analyses suggest that the hydrodynamic response of back-barrier systems to salt-marsh erosion is extremely site-specific, depending closely on the morphological characteristics of the embayment as well as on the external climatic forcings.

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Community Ecology of Salt Marshes

Cited by 7 publications

References 238 publications

A Minimalist Model of Salt-Marsh Vegetation Dynamics Driven by Species Competition and Dispersal

A Minimalist Model of Salt-Marsh Vegetation Dynamics Driven by Species Competition and Dispersal

Hydrodynamic feedbacks of salt-marsh loss in shallow microtidal back-barrier systems

Hydrodynamic feedbacks of salt-marsh loss in the shallow microtidal back-barrier lagoon of Venice (Italy)

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