Summary
Young rhizome sprouts of the herbaceous perennial Jaumea carnosa were propagated from material collected in a salt marsh along the central California coast. The sprouts were transplanted to flats of sand sown with different densities of seeds of a representative glycophyte, Lolium perenne L. “Derby, turf type.” Controls flats contained only Jaumea or Lolium. Three series of replicated flats were watered from above with dilutions of seawater in 1/10 strength Hoagland solution, such that dissolved salts were 400, 4000 or 11,600 ppm. Two other series were continuously subirrigated with 400 or 11,600 ppm salt water. After 61 days of treatment in a greenhouse with a 30/11°C thermoperiod (mean daily max/min), all plants were harvested and weighed. In the monospecific control flats, the growth of both species declined with increasing salinity, but the relative decline of Lolium was three times that of Jaumea. Jaumea's root: shoot ratio was also less affected by salinity. Both species grew well when subirrigated by 400 ppm salt water, but grew poorly when subirrigated by 11,600 ppm salt water, indicating that aeration alone is not the most significant factor in the marsh. The effect of interspecific competition on Jaumea was marked at low salinity, depressing growth by 52% compared to controls, but at high salinity the competitive effect was insignificant, whether the plants were watered from above or subirrigated. This supports the hypothesis that intolerant halophytes such as Jaumea are restricted in nature to salt marshes because they are poor competitors with glycophytes on non-saline soils.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barbour, M.G.: Is any angiosperm an obligate halophyte? Am. Midl. Nat. 84, 105–120 (1970)
Barbour, M.G., Craig, R.B., Drysdale, F.R., Ghiselin, M.T.: Coastal ecology: Bodega Head. Berkeley: University of California Press 1973
Barbour, M.G., Davis, C.B.: Salt tolerance of five California salt marsh plants. Am. Midl. Nat. 84, 262–265 (1970)
Chapman, V.J.: Salt marshes and salt deserts of the world, 2nd ed. Germany: Cramer 1974
Macdonald, K.B.: Coastal salt marsh. In: Terrestrial vegetation of California (M.G. Barbour and J. Major, eds.), pp. 263–294. New York: Wiley 1977
Munz, P.A., Keck, D.D.: A California Flora. Berkeley: University of California Press 1959
Reimold, R.J., Queen, W.H.: Ecology of halophytes. New York: Academic Press 1974
Ungar, I.A.: Salt tolerance of plants growing in saline areas of Kansas and Oklahoma. Ecology 47, 154–155 (1966)
Waisel, Y.: The biology of halophytes. New York: Academic Press 1972
Walter, H.: Vegetation of earth in relation to climate and the eco-physiological conditions. Berlin-Heidelberg-New York: Springer 1973
Winer, B.J.: Statistical principles in experimental design. San Francisco: McGraw-Hill 1962
Wit, C.T. de: On competition. Wageningen, Netherlands, Versl. Landbouwk. Onderzoek. No. 66.8 (1960)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This research was supported by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and by the University of California Bodega Marine Laboratory
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barbour, M.G. The effect of competition and salinity on the growth of a salt marsh plant species. Oecologia 37, 93–99 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349995
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00349995