Abstract
In the present study, plant species patterns and associated environmental factors of freshwater, oligohaline, and meschaline marshes of the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge were compared. DECORANA, an ordination method, was used to group vegetation classes. Discriminant function analysis was applied to resulting classes to quantify differences in salinity, elevation, and distance from tidal channels among classes. Nine vegetation classes across freshwater and brackish marshes corresponded significantly to salinity differences between sites. Combinations of elevation and distance from tidal channel were significant in separating vegetation classes within sites.Scirpus validus (Vahl) was the only species to occur over the entire range of measured physical parameters and accounted for much of the overlap between vegetation classes. The proportion of correctly classified vegetation classes between sites was 70%. Within each site, the proportion of correct classification was lower in the freshwater marsh (77% correct classifications) when compared with the oligohaline (82%), strongly oligohaline (83%), and mesohaline (85%) sites. Although overlap among classes was greater in the more diverse freshwater marsh, our results may reflect differences in the steepness of environmental gradients between sites and the scale at which physical parameters were measured rather than actual plant distribution overlap. Results suggest that resources are more finely divided among species in the freshwater marsh, resulting in a less distinct dominance hierarchy when compared with the mesohaline marsh.
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Latham, P.J., Pearlstine, L.G. & Kitchens, W.M. Species association changes across a gradient of freshwater, oligohaline, and mesohaline tidal marshes along the lower Savannah River. Wetlands 14, 174–183 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03160654
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03160654