Abstract
Native plants in the upland to high-marsh transition zone of southern California salt marshes are mostly perennials and therefore experience the abiotic stress of low soil moisture and high soil salinity throughout much of the year. However, many annual non-native plants reproduce during the brief period of reduced salinity and increased moisture during winter rainfall. We investigated the seasonal and spatial variation in vegetation and soil properties of the transition zone using an observational study. Next, we explored the potential for managing non-native plants using a field experiment with varying timing, quantity, and frequency of salt addition treatments. The observational study showed that the distribution of non-native plants is related to changes in soil salinity and soil moisture that accompany changes in elevation, although there are variations among species. In the field experiment, salt was effective at reducing non-native plant cover, but the timing of treatment was important. Although additional work is needed to refine the salt treatments, this work supports the idea that altering abiotic conditions can effectively reduce the presence of non-native species in the upland to high-marsh transition zone.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and California State Parks for their help and support with this project. We also thank numerous students and TRNERR volunteers for their assistance in the field.
This research was conducted under an award from the Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Conflict of interest statement
The authors have full control of all primary data, and there are no conflicts of interest.
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Fig. 1
Elevation profiles of observation transects. Note that the length of the transects was determined by the steepness of the elevation gradient (DOC 211 kb)
Fig. 2
February 2009 salt addition (DOC 1603 kb)
Fig. 3
March 2009 salt addition (DOC 2366 kb)
Fig. 4
February 2010 sampling date. Transect 4 could not be relocated (DOC 1847 kb)
Table 1
Native species found in observational transects (DOC 67 kb)
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Uyeda, K.A., Deutschman, D.H. & Crooks, J.A. Abiotic Limitation of Non-native Plants in the High Salt Marsh Transition Zone. Estuaries and Coasts 36, 1125–1136 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-013-9640-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-013-9640-1