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Do interspecific competition and salinity explain plant zonation in a tropical estuary?

  • PLANTS IN AQUATIC SYSTEMS
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Abstract

Environmental gradients and competition influence aquatic macrophyte distribution in estuaries. The competition-to-stress hypothesis states that some species are excluded from lower estuaries (high salinity) due to abiotic stress and others from upper estuaries (low salinity) by competition. The growth of Crinum americanum L. and Spartina alterniflora Loisel. in monoculture (10:0/0:10) and mixed culture (5:5) under different salinity levels (4/12/26) was analysed by a laboratory experiment (3 cultures × 3 sediment types × 3 replicate) to understand the role of competition and salinity on the distribution of these species in a tropical estuary as well as to verify whether the competition-to-stress hypothesis explains their zonation. We tested the hypothesis that S. alterniflora is not established in the upper estuary due to the effect of competition with C. americanum, whereas the latter presents restrictions to high salinity and has greater competitive ability in the upper estuary. Our data confirm the competition-to-stress hypothesis but not as proposed originally. We conclude that abiotic stress (low nutrient availability) is responsible for the absence of S. alterniflora in the upper estuary and that the competition between the two species is responsible for the absence of C. americanum in the lower estuary.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Carlos Fernando Sanches and Amarílis Brandão de Paiva, M.S., for assistance with the experiment, Cristiane Akemi Umetsu, Ph.D., for helping in the statistical analyses and Leonardo Farage Cancian, Ph.D., for drawing up the map of the study area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Avenida 24 A, 1515, Rio Claro, SP, CEP 13506-900, Brazil

    Laís Samira Correia Nunes & Antonio Fernando Monteiro Camargo

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  1. Laís Samira Correia Nunes
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  2. Antonio Fernando Monteiro Camargo
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Correspondence to Laís Samira Correia Nunes.

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Guest editors: M. T. O’Hare, F. C. Aguiar, E. S. Bakker & K. A. Wood / Plants in Aquatic Systems – a 21st Century Perspective

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Nunes, L.S.C., Camargo, A.F.M. Do interspecific competition and salinity explain plant zonation in a tropical estuary?. Hydrobiologia 812, 67–77 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-016-2821-8

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