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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI15061985/00001
Notes
- Abstract:
- ct Tropical coastal forests ± mangroves ± will be
one of the ®rst ecosystems to be aected by altered sea
levels accompanying global climate change. Responses
of mangrove forests to changing sea levels depend on
reactions of individual plants, yet such responses have
not been addressed experimentally. We report data from
a long-term greenhouse study that assessed physiological
and individual growth responses of the dominant neo-
tropical mangrove, Rhizophora mangle, to levels of
inundation expected to occur in the Caribbean within 50±
100 years. In this study, we grew potted plants in tanks
with simulated semidiurnal (twice daily) high tides that
approximated current conditions (MW plants), a 16-cm
increase in sea level (LW plants), and a 16-cm decrease
in sea level (HW plants). The experiment lasted 2
years, beginning with mangrove seedlings and termi-
nating after plants began to reproduce. Environmental
(air temperature, relative humidity, photosynthetically
active radiation) and edaphic conditions (pH, redox, soil
sul®de) approximated ®eld conditions in Belize, the
source locale for the seedlings. HW plants were shorter
and narrower, and produced fewer branches and leaves,
responses correlated with the development of acid-
sul®de soils in their pots. LW plants initially grew more
rapidly than MW plants. However, the growth of LW
plants slowed dramatically once they reached the sapling
stage, and by the end of the experiment, MW plants
were 10±20% larger in all measured growth parameters.
Plants did not exhibit dierences in allometric growth as
a function of inundation. Anatomical characteristics of
leaves did not dier among treatments. Both foliar C:N
and root porosity decreased from LW through MW to
HW. Relative to LW and HW plants, MW plants had
1±7% fewer stomata/mm2, 6±21% greater maximum
photosynthetic rates, 3±23% greater absolute relative
growth rates (RGRs), and a 30% higher RGR for a
given increase in net assimilation rate. Reduced growth
of R. mangle under realistic conditions approximating
future inundation depths likely will temper projected
increased growth of this species under concomitant
increases in the atmospheric concentration of CO2 ( English )
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- Please contact the owning institution for licensing and permissions. It is the user's responsibility to ensure use does not violate any third party rights.
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