Abstract
Growth, in terms of length, weight, and number of branches and/or dichotomies, in transplanted specimens of Ascophyllum nodosum ecad scorpioides in a temperate salt marsh is described. The ecad scorpioides, when transplanted from its characteristic habitat on the mid-intertidal, Spartina alterniflora-dominated, marsh flats to a location near mean low-water developed characteristics normally associated with A. nodosum ecad mackaii. The growth of these plants was more rapid than those in the mid-intertidal region and was not affected by the shading of algal fronds by S. alterniflora. Unusually high temperatures and light intensities during the winter and spring months were major factors affecting growth in plants that were subjected to relatively long periods of tidal exposure. The presence of S. alterniflora during the summer months may act in a protective capacity for mid-intertidal ecad populations.
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Communicated by M.R. Tripp, Newark
This research was supported by research grants AG-375 and BO 38018 from the National Science Foundation and, in part, by the State University of New York Research Foundation and the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA).
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Brinkhuis, B.H., Jones, R.F. The ecology of temperate salt-marsh fucoids. II. In situ growth of transplanted Ascophyllum nodosum ecads. Mar. Biol. 34, 339–348 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00398127
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00398127