Abstract
Avicennia germinans (L.) L. (black mangrove) grows at its North American latitudinal limit in coastal salt marshes of Louisiana, USA. To assess low-temperature tolerance of A. germinans, we evaluated the survival and developmental progress of three early life history stages (dispersal, stranded, and seedling stages) to three temperatures (5.7°C, 2.5°C, and −6.5°C) of four durations (2, 6, 12, and 24 h). Duration and temperature of exposure decreased mangrove survivorship, particularly 24-h exposure at −6.5°C. Although there was not a significant effect of stage on survivorship overall, both survival analysis and final mortality analysis indicate that dispersal stage had the greatest survivorship. Treatments had little impact on developmental progress of surviving propagules, but propagules exposed to −6.5°C were most susceptible to fungal infection. Greater cold temperature tolerance of the dispersal stage may be a mechanism for northward range expansion in Louisiana.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank P. Klerks (University of Louisiana, Department of Biology) for assistance with survival analysis and M. C. Aime and R. Kaur (Louisiana State University, Department of Plant Pathology and Crop Physiology) for identification of the fungus. The authors also thank B. Pickens for assistance with fungus culturing and critical review. C. Pickens was supported by a Louisiana Board of Regents Fellowship during this research. The authors are grateful for assistance with the field and greenhouse components of the research by the graduate students and student workers of the Coastal Plant Ecology Laboratory. The authors are grateful for the comments of two anonymous reviewers that improved the quality of this manuscript.
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Pickens, C.N., Hester, M.W. Temperature Tolerance of Early Life History Stages of Black Mangrove Avicennia germinans: Implications for Range Expansion. Estuaries and Coasts 34, 824–830 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-010-9358-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-010-9358-2