Skip to main content

IMIS

A new integrated search interface will become available in the next phase of marineinfo.org.
For the time being, please use IMIS to search available data

 

[ report an error in this record ]basket (0): add | show Print this page

Plant traits determining biogeomorphic landscape dynamics: A study on clonal expansion strategies driving cliff formation at marsh edges
Cao, H.; Zhu, Z.; Herman, P.M.J.; Temmerman, S.; de Smit, J.; Zhang, L.; Yuan, L.; Bouma, T.J. (2021). Plant traits determining biogeomorphic landscape dynamics: A study on clonal expansion strategies driving cliff formation at marsh edges. Limnol. Oceanogr. 66(10): 3754-3767. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lno.11915

Additional data:
In: Limnology and Oceanography. American Society of Limnology and Oceanography: Waco, Tex., etc. ISSN 0024-3590; e-ISSN 1939-5590, more
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Authors 

Authors  Top 
  • de Smit, J., more
  • Zhang, L.
  • Yuan, L.
  • Bouma, T.J., more

Abstract
    Despite the well-recognized importance of plant traits for biogeomorphic development of landscapes, our understanding remains limited of how species-specific plant traits respond to and serve as drivers for the sedimentary dynamics within a biogeomorphic landscape. By manipulating a series of laboratory experiments, using mesocosms and a flume, we examined how species-specific differences in expansion strategy, i.e., clonal step-length of laterally expanding tillers, both respond to sediment type and drive cliff formation and persistence. We compared three marsh species, with contrasting clonal expansion traits, that are dominant in many estuaries worldwide: Spartina anglica, Scirpus maritimus, and Phragmites australis. Our results revealed that S. anglica tussocks tend to have high shoot density due to a short clonal expansion step-length, whereas S. maritimus tussocks were much more diffuse and tend to have a longer clonal expansion step-length. P. australis showed intermediate traits. Clonal expansion step-length did show within-species variation in response to sediment texture, but species-specific differences remained the most important. Species with smaller clonal step-lengths, such as S. anglica in this study, are more likely to induce cliffs at the marsh edge by driving formation of larger cliff heights and also having lower capacity to grow out from cliffs. Our findings thus illustrate how dynamic landscape features like cliffs at marsh edges depend on the clonal expansion traits of the dominant species. This enhances current understanding of the formation and development of marsh edges, and is instructive for understanding the role of species-specific traits in driving distinct biogeomorphic landscape dynamics.

All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy Top | Authors