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Wind and salt spray alter tree shape and dry mass density in Casuarina equisetifolia L.

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Wind, salt spray, and the proximity to the coastline significantly caused the variation of tree shape and dry mass density of Casuarina equisetifolia L. planted in coastal areas.

Abstract

Despite negative effects of exotic plants, they play an important role in the erosion control and the accumulation of wind-borne deposits in coastal areas. Identifying the adaptive strategies of exotic species and predicting their ability for stress adaption are of great interest to improve the management and regeneration of coastwise protective forests. We studied Casuarina equisetifolia L., an introduced tree planted successfully for dampening wind speed and preventing coastal soil erosion in coastal regions of southern China, 450–1400 m from the coastline in Taiwan Strait. Morphological and functional traits were measured on the windward and leeward sides of each of 48 trees of identical age and diameter. Coastal stress was measured by wind speed and salt spray. Traits were summarized using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and PC scores were related to coastal stress and to other environmental effects. Morphological traits were summarized as PCs describing tree shape, branch supporting capacity, and branching pattern. Coastal stress significantly influenced tree shape, but not branch supporting capacity and branching pattern. Tree shape was also affected by other environmental factors. Functional traits were summarized by PCs describing dry mass density, dry matter content, and water balance, but only dry mass density was influenced by coastal stress or other environmental factors. Our study indicated that C. equisetifolia adapts to coastal stress by altering its tree shape and dry mass density. Our results provide useful information for the selection of adequate species for the erosion control and management of coastal areas.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fujian Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant no. 2015J01607), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 31400533 and 41201564), the National Ministry of Education Foundation for Ph.D Program of China (Grant no. 20090315120008), and Sponsoring Agreement for Overseas Studies in Fujian Province (Grant no. 20131227). The authors thank G. X. Zheng, Z. B. Wu, J. L. Wang, and the staff of Dahe state-owned forest plantation for help collecting and analyzing the data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Forestry, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Yongming Lin, Jian Li, Han Lin, Can Chen, Wei Hong, Chengzhen Wu, Tao Hong, Haojun Deng, Guangshuai Zhang & Kun Du

  2. Key Laboratory for Forest Ecosystem Process and Management of Fujian Province, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Yongming Lin, Jian Li, Han Lin, Can Chen, Wei Hong, Chengzhen Wu, Tao Hong, Haojun Deng, Guangshuai Zhang & Kun Du

  3. School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Yongming Lin, Jonathan D. Bakker & Loretta Fisher

  4. College of Ecology and Resource Engineering, Wuyi University, Nanping, 354300, China

    Chengzhen Wu

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  1. Yongming Lin
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  2. Jian Li
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  3. Jonathan D. Bakker
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  4. Han Lin
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  5. Can Chen
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  6. Wei Hong
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  11. Guangshuai Zhang
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Correspondence to Chengzhen Wu.

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Communicated by Y. Sano.

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Lin, Y., Li, J., Bakker, J.D. et al. Wind and salt spray alter tree shape and dry mass density in Casuarina equisetifolia L.. Trees 31, 15–26 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-016-1450-1

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