scholarly journals Inoculating rhizome-propagated Sporobolus pumilus with a native mycorrhizal fungus increases salt marsh plant growth and survival

FACETS ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 1134-1145
Author(s):  
Tyler W. d’Entremont ◽  
Juan C. López-Gutiérrez ◽  
Allison K. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungus ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Nutrient Status ◽  
Salt Marsh Restoration ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Salt Marsh Plant

Salt marshes are ecosystems of significant ecological importance for coastal stability and fundamental roles in marine ecosystems. Salt marshes are declining due to anthropogenic and natural causes including sea level rise. Coastal restoration efforts have increased worldwide, but many fail in long-term coastal stability. We used a naturally occurring arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) to test whether survival and early growth of the salt marsh grass Sporobolus pumilus (formerly Spartina patens) improved under simulated salt marsh conditions. Using a tidal mesocosm bench, we grew inoculated plants with varying AMF treatments under simulated tidal regimes to determine if AMF could aid in establishment of healthy Sporobolus communities. Rhizome-derived S. pumilus had greater survival and grew faster than seed-derived plants. Plants inoculated with propagated AMF consistently outperformed both sterile and native sediment controls in terms of plant survival and growth. Use of rhizome-derived Sporobolus inoculated with propagated Funneliformis geosporum showed the most promise in producing successful plant populations for salt marsh restoration. This may be due to plant life stage and improved plant nutrient status, allowing rhizome-derived plants to grow more quickly than seed-derived plants. Using these plants in future large-scale restoration may increase re-establishment of salt marsh ecosystems.

scholarly journals NATURE-BASED COASTAL PROTECTION: WAVE DAMPING BY FLEXIBLE SALT MARSH VEGETATION

2020 ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Thomas J van Veelen ◽  
Harshinie Karunarathna ◽  
William G Bennett ◽  
Tom P Fairchild ◽  
Dominic E Reeve
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Coastal Vegetation ◽  
Coastal Protection ◽  
Coastal Zones ◽  
Wave Damping ◽  
Marsh Vegetation ◽  
Efficient Manner ◽  
Wave Energy Dissipation

The ability of coastal vegetation to attenuate waves has been well established (Moller et al., 2014). Salt marshes are vegetated coastal wetlands that can act as nature- based coastal defenses. They exhibit a range of plant species, which have been shown to differ in the amount of wave damping they provide (Mullarney & Henderson, 2018). Recent studies have shown that plant flexibility is a key parameter that controls wave energy dissipation (Paul et al., 2016). Yet, no model exists that includes plant flexibility in computationally efficient manner for large-scale coastal zones. Therefore, we have developed a new model for flexible vegetation based on the key mechanisms in the wave-vegetation interaction and applied it to an estuary with diverse salt marsh vegetation.Recorded Presentation from the vICCE (YouTube Link): https://youtu.be/AjnFx3aFSzs

Effect of nitrate supply on the facilitation between two salt-marsh plants (Suaeda salsa and Scirpus planiculmis)

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-212
Author(s):  
Hua Ma ◽  
Li-Juan Cui ◽  
Xu Pan ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Yu Ning ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Stress Gradient ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Suaeda Salsa ◽  
Environmental Drivers ◽  
Salt Marsh Plant ◽  
Nitrate Supply

Abstract Aims In estuarine salt-marshes, nitrate supply and soil salinity, which are known as two main environmental drivers, simultaneously affect the interspecific interactions between plant species. However, to date, their interactive effects on interspecific interactions have not been closely examined for salt-marsh plant species. Methods Juvenile plants of Suaeda salsa L. (Chenopodiaceae) and Scirpus planiculmis Fr. (Cyperaceae) were grown in rinsed river sand to conduct a greenhouse experiment with three treatment categories: interspecific interaction (mixed culture or monoculture), three salinity levels (1, 50 and 100 mmol L−1) and three nitrate levels (0.5, 5 and 10 mmol L−1). First, height and biomass of all plants were measured. Then, the growth data, relative interaction index and competitive important index of the two species were analyzed. Important Findings The interspecific interactions between S. salsa and S. planiculmis were facilitation across the salinity gradients. The promotion of S. salsa growth with high nitrate supply did not enhance the facilitative effect of the species, especially at low salinity. However, high nitrate supply significantly shifted the interspecific interactions of S. planiculmis from facilitation to competition at high salinity. Our results suggest that excessive nitrate application changes the prediction of the stress-gradient hypothesis along a salinity gradient, leading to collapse of the two species coexistence in the salt-marshes. These findings make a contribution to the understanding of how S. salsa and S. planiculmis, as well as salt-marsh communities, respond to the human modification of estuarine nutritional levels.

scholarly journals Salt marsh restoration with sediment-slurry amendments following a drought-induced large-scale disturbance

Wetlands ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 1071-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela M. Schrift ◽  
Irving A. Mendelssohn ◽  
Michael D. Materne
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Salt Marsh Restoration ◽  
Marsh Restoration ◽  
Sediment Slurry ◽  
Large Scale Disturbance

scholarly journals Influence of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus on Growth and Nutrient Status in Chickpea (Cicer Arietinum L.) Plant

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sameer Ahmad Thoker ◽  
sapan patel
Keyword(s):  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Biochemical Parameters ◽  
Crop Production ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungus ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Nutrient Status ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Botanical Garden ◽  
Conventional Agriculture ◽  
Pot Culture

Abstract Background: The greatest challenge of today’s agriculture is to feed the growing population and restore the natural resources. World over demand of crops in market is more than production. Indian crop production needs to be doubled and just to maintain the present precipitate consumption. . Excessive use of chemical fertilizers causes environmental pollution both at the manufacturing and application sites. It is therefore most necessary to reduce the dependence on chemical inputs in agriculture. This is possible only through eco friendly approaches of farming system. Besides other biotechnological interventions, the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi could be used as bio inoculants for promotion of growth, development, quality and yield of vegetables that too under an Integrated Plant Growth substances management system. Mycorrhizal fungi are used in conventional agriculture to improve crop production and productivity.Methods: A pot culture was performed at Botanical Garden of School of Studies in Botany, Jiwaji University Gwalior to examine the effect of Glomus hoi on growth and certain biochemical parameters. Plants were raised in triplicates for different mycorrhizal species through the pot culture, containing sterile soil. Plastic pots of 18” × 12”size were used for this purpose. Pots were placed at a sunny place after the seed sowing. And after the seed germination, plants were irrigated as when requiredResults: After germination the inoculated plants along with their controls were be sampled at 30, 60 and 90 days. During sampling it was found that due to AMF symbiosis all growth and biochemical parameters like plant were increased in all AMF treated plants.

scholarly journals Top-down and sideways: Herbivory and cross-ecosystem connectivity shape restoration success at the salt marsh-upland ecotone

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0247374
Author(s):  
Kerstin Wasson ◽  
Karen E. Tanner ◽  
Andrea Woofolk ◽  
Sean McCain ◽  
Justin P. Suraci
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Camera Traps ◽  
Physical Factors ◽  
High Marsh ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Salt Marsh Restoration ◽  
Marsh Restoration ◽  
Restoration Site ◽  
Restoration Success

Wetland restoration provides remarkable opportunities to understand vegetation dynamics and to inform success of future projects through rigorous restoration experiments. Salt marsh restoration typically focuses on physical factors such as sediment dynamics and elevation. Despite many demonstrations of strong top-down effects on salt marshes, the potential for consumers to affect salt marsh restoration projects has rarely been quantified. Recently, major restoration projects at the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in central California, USA provided an opportunity to examine how herbivory influences restoration success. We quantified the strength of consumer effects by comparing caged to uncaged plantings, and compared effects among plant species and sites. We used camera traps to detect which herbivores were most common and how their abundance varied spatially. Beyond characterizing consumer effects, we also tested management strategies for reducing negative effects of herbivory at the restoration sites, including caging, mowing, and acoustic playbacks of predator sounds. We found extremely strong consumer effects at sites with extensive stands of exotic forbs upland of the high marsh; uncaged restoration plants suffered heavy herbivory and high mortality, while most caged plants survived. Brush rabbits (Sylvilagus bachmani) were by far the most frequent consumers of these high marsh plants. Our work thus provides the first evidence of mammal consumers affecting salt marsh restoration success. Mowing of tall exotic forb cover adjacent to the marsh at one restoration site greatly reduced consumption, and nearly all monitored plantings survived at a second restoration site where construction had temporarily eliminated upland cover. Playbacks of predator sounds did not significantly affect restoration plantings, but restoration efforts in marsh communities vulnerable to terrestrial herbivory may benefit from concurrent restoration of predator communities in the upland habitats surrounding the marsh. A landscape approach is thus critical for recognizing linkages between terrestrial and marine vegetation.

scholarly journals Hitchhiking Halophytes in Wrack and Sediment-Laden Ice Blocks Contribute To Tidal Marsh Development in The Upper Bay of Fundy.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Lundholm ◽  
Tasha R.M. Rabinowitz ◽  
Lyndsay Greene ◽  
Alisha D. Glogowski ◽  
Tony Bowron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Coastal Wetland ◽  
Marsh Surface ◽  
Plant Colonization ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Plant Debris ◽  
Salt Marsh Restoration ◽  
Potential Source ◽  
Total Sediment

Abstract Salt marshes are a type of coastal wetland that are affected by dynamic coastal processes. Ice blocks and wrack (mats of plant debris) regularly float onto northern marshes and become stranded, affecting vegetation and soil accretion. There is little research regarding the capacity of ice and wrack to transport viable plant propagules onto marshes where they can colonize, which may be particularly important at barren new salt marsh restoration sites. Contributions of sediment by ice may also be important at restoration sites to raise the marsh platform to elevations appropriate for plant colonization. We collected ice (n = 27) and wrack (n = 18) samples at marshes in the Bay of Fundy, ran germination trials with the contents, and measured the quantity of sediment in the ice. We found viable propagules from halophytic and non-halophytic species in wrack, and viable propagules of Sporobolus pumilus in ice. Additionally, we found sediment densities between 0.01 and 4.75 g·cm−3 in ice blocks that translated to 26.61 – 21,483.59 kg of total sediment per block, representing a large source of sediment. We found that the number of germinating propagules could not be predicted by wrack size, and that pH, sediment density, sediment weight in ice blocks were variable across the marsh surface, while ice salinity was negatively correlated with elevation and distance from creek. Our results indicate that ice and wrack represent a potential source for vegetation colonization at salt marsh sites and highlights their contributions to facilitating vegetation colonization through building marsh soils.

Rhizosphere dynamics influenced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (Glomus deserticola) and related changes in leaf nutrient status and yield of Kinnow mandarin {King (Citrus nobilis) × Willow Leaf (Citrus deliciosa)}

2004 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 571 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Usha ◽  
A. Saxena ◽  
B. Singh
Keyword(s):  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
Root Exudation ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungus ◽  
Soil Nutrient ◽  
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal ◽  
Nutrient Status ◽  
Fruit Yield ◽  
Yield And Quality ◽  
Kinnow Mandarin ◽  
Glomus Deserticola

Rhizosphere modification through root exudation is an important attribute that regulates not only the availability of nutrients in the soil but also their acquisition by plants. To test the above, 10-year-old Kinnow mandarin plants budded on Troyer citrange were inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) (Glomus deserticola) and Azotobacter chroococcum in different combinations with organic-farm-yard manure (FYM) and inorganic fertilisers in February when the root system was active. Plants with FYM alone were treated as a control. In the present investigation, a higher release of organic acids such as malic, citric, shikimic, and fumaric acids was evident from symbiotic roots of Kinnow inoculated with AMF (G. deserticola). Soil pH decreased significantly from 8.5 before the start of the experiment to 6.4 at the end of the experiment in the treatment where G. deserticola was applied with FYM. A decrease in soil EC and organic carbon, and an increase in soil availability of N, P, and K, leaf nutrient status, and fruit yield and quality were observed when the plants were inoculated with G. deserticola compared with all other treatments. This study indicates that G. deserticola, when compared with A. chroococcum, modifies the rhizosphere favourably to improve soil nutrient availability and consequent uptake by plants and thus result in better growth, fruit yield, and quality of Kinnow.

scholarly journals Long-term CH<sub>3</sub>Br and CH<sub>3</sub>Cl flux measurements in temperate salt marshes

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 3657-3668 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Blei ◽  
M. R. Heal ◽  
K. V. Heal
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Southern California ◽  
Tropical Rainforests ◽  
Salt Marsh Plant ◽  
Daily Cycles ◽  
Flux Measurements ◽  
Methyl Halide ◽  
Net Fluxes

Abstract. Fluxes of CH3Br and CH3Cl and their relationship with potential drivers such as sunlight, temperature and soil moisture, were monitored at fortnightly to monthly intervals for more than two years at two contrasting temperate salt marsh sites in Scotland. Manipulation experiments were conducted to further investigate possible links between drivers and fluxes. Fluxes followed both seasonal and diurnal trends with highest fluxes during summer days and lowest (negative) fluxes during winter nights. Mean (± 1 sd) annually and diurnally-weighted net emissions from the two sites were found to be 300 ± 44 ng m−2 h−1 for CH3Br and 662 ± 266 ng m−2 h−1 for CH3Cl. The fluxes from this work are similar to findings from this and other research groups for salt marshes in cooler, higher latitude climates, but lower than values from salt marshes in the Mediterranean climate of southern California. Statistical analysis generally did not demonstrate a strong link between temperature or sunlight levels and methyl halide fluxes, although it is likely that temperatures have a weak direct influence on emissions, and both certainly have indirect influence via the annual and daily cycles of the vegetation. CH3Cl flux magnitudes from different measurement locations depended on the plant species enclosed whereas such dependency was not discernible for CH3Br fluxes. In 14 out of 18 collars with vegetation CH3Br and CH3Cl net fluxes were significantly positively correlated. The CH3Cl/CH3Br net-emission mass ratio was 2.2, a magnitude lower than mass ratios of global methyl halide budgets (~22) or emissions from tropical rainforests (~60). This is likely due to preference for CH3Br production by the relatively high bromine content in the salt marsh plant material. Extrapolation based solely on data from this study yields salt marsh contributions of 0.5–3.2% and 0.05–0.33%, respectively, of currently-estimated total global production of CH3Br and CH3Cl, but actual global contributions likely lie between these values and those derived from southern California.

scholarly journals Long-term CH<sub>3</sub>Br and CH<sub>3</sub>Cl flux measurements in temperate salt marshes

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 6295-6322 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Blei ◽  
M. R. Heal ◽  
K. V. Heal
Keyword(s):  
Salt Marsh ◽  
Salt Marshes ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Tropical Rainforests ◽  
Salt Marsh Plant ◽  
Flux Measurements ◽  
Methyl Halide ◽  
Net Fluxes

Abstract. Fluxes of CH3Br and CH3Cl and their relationship with potential drivers such as sunlight, temperature and soil moisture, were monitored at fortnightly to monthly intervals for more than two years at two contrasting temperate salt marsh sites in Scotland. Manipulation experiments were conducted to further investigate possible links between drivers and fluxes. Mean (± 1 sd) annually and diurnally-weighted net emissions from the two sites were found to be 300 ± 44 ng m−2 h−1 for CH3Br and 662 ± 266 ng m−2 h−1 for CH3Cl. A tentative scale-up indicates that salt marshes account for 0.5–3.2% and 0.05–0.33%, respectively, of currently-estimated total global production of these two gases, in line with previous findings from this and other research groups, but consistently lower than past global scale-up estimates from Southern Californian salt marshes. Fluxes followed both seasonal and diurnal trends with highest fluxes during summer days and lowest (negative) fluxes during winter nights. Statistical analysis generally did not demonstrate a strong link between temperature or sunlight levels and methyl halide fluxes, although it is likely that temperatures have a weak direct influence on emissions, and both certainly have indirect influence via the annual and daily cycles of the vegetation. CH3Cl flux magnitudes from different measurement locations depended on the plant species enclosed whereas such dependency was not discernible for CH3Br fluxes. In 14 out of 19 collars CH3Br and CH3Cl net fluxes were significantly correlated. The CH3Cl/CH3Br net-emission mass ratio was 2.2, a magnitude lower than mass ratios of global methyl halide budgets (~22) or emissions from tropical rainforests (~60). This is likely due to preference for CH3Br production by the relatively high bromine content in the salt marsh plant material.

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