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Ellison Abstract- 1997 Ellison and Farnsworth
Ellison, A. M., and E. J. Farnsworth. 1997. Simulated sea level change alters anatomy, physiology, growth, and reproduction of red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle L.). Oecologia 112: 435-446.
Abstract
Tropical coastal forests — mangroves — will be one of the first ecosystems to be affected 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 2½ years, beginning with mangrove seedlings and terminating after plants began to reproduce. Environmental (air temperature, relative humidity, photosynthetically active radiation) and edaphic conditions (pH, redox, soil sulfide) approximated field 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 acidsulfide 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.
