Published

Data from: Establishing cordgrass plants cluster their shoots to avoid ecosystem engineering Version 14

Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research https://doi.org/10.25850/nioz/7b.b.2d
  1. Vegetated coastal ecosystems such as salt marshes, dunes and seagrass meadows occur at the land-sea interface – a dynamic environment typified by harsh growing conditions. These ecosystems are known as biogeomorphic landscapes because their functioning depends on biophysical interactions by which organisms engineer landforms to their own benefit. The strength of such biogeomorphic feedbacks depends on plant traits, such as stem flexibility and shoot density.
  2. Recent work demonstrated that dune grasses with similar morphological traits can build contrasting landscapes due to differences in their spatial shoot organization. However, in contrast to dune grasses that trap and stabilize sand particles in aeolian landscapes, flow attenuation in aquatic environments can generate scouring around plant stems and cause uprooting, leading to establishment thresholds for young plants.
  3. Yet, it remains unknown how findings from aeolian landscapes translate to aquatic systems and how young clonally expanding plants in hydrodynamically exposed conditions overcome these establishment thresholds by optimizing shoot placement.
  4. Here, we measured shoot patterns of 90 establishing cordgrass patches (Spartina anglica) at 18 European field sites that cover a broad range of hydrodynamic conditions. Next, we carried out a field experiment to investigate how observed spatial shoot patterns affect plant-sediment feedbacks.
  5. Surprisingly, field survey analyses reveal highly consistent clustered shoot patterns, regardless of environmental conditions. Experimental results demonstrate that this clustered pattern minimizes scouring compared to densely clumped organizations typically observed in established patches.
  6. Synthesis. In contrast to earlier findings highlighting that establishing dune grasses optimize their landscape engineering capacity via a flexible shoot placement strategy, we find that cordgrass instead follows a fixed strategy that minimizes engineering effects in its early life stages. We suggest that marsh grasses avoid physical stress and associated establishment thresholds in their early life stage, and switch to an ecosystem engineering strategy once established. These findings shed new light on how plant traits interact with their environment to shape the landscape and pave the way for improved restoration designs by mimicking the natural shoot organization of establishing vegetation.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Subject Earth and Environmental Sciences
DAS Code 7b.b.2d
Source https://dataportal.nioz.nl/doi/10.25850/nioz/7b.b.2d
Version 14
Creator(s)
van de Ven, Clea (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research)
ORCID
Contact the corresponding author
Depositor Clea Ven van de
Publication Date 2023-02-03
Deposit Date 2023-02-01
Dataset Persistent Identifier DOI:10.25850/nioz/7b.b.2d
Alternate identifier
Related identifier
Contributor NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
Distributor Research Data Management(NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research)
Distribution Date 2023-02-01
Production Date 2023-02-03
Dates
Funding References
Dutch Research Council (NWO) (16588)
Vidi for Tjisse van der Heide - Small steps giant leaps - how spatially organising plants build coastal landscapes

Dutch Research Council (NWO) (212.059)
Veni for Valerie Reijers
Geographic Coverage
NW Europe