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Seed Supply and Revegetation Dynamics at Restored Tidal Marshes, Napa River, California
Author(s) -
Diggory Zooey E.,
Parker V. Thomas
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
restoration ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1526-100X
pISSN - 1061-2971
DOI - 10.1111/j.1526-100x.2009.00636.x
Subject(s) - revegetation , vegetation (pathology) , seed dispersal , marsh , species richness , abundance (ecology) , ecology , biological dispersal , biology , agronomy , environmental science , ecological succession , wetland , medicine , population , demography , pathology , sociology
Tidal marsh restoration largely depends on natural seed rain to revegetate restored sites, but often little is known about the abundance and composition of the seed rain, or how it is influenced by individual species' dispersal or recruitment limitations. We monitored vegetation, seed rain, seed bank, and physical conditions at three restored and one reference tidal marsh to evaluate the seed rain's ability to revegetate restored sites, and the relative role of seed dispersal in revegetation patterns. The vegetation at the reference site is significantly more species‐rich than the restored sites, while the composition of their seed rain is similar. Species absent from the vegetation at restored sites are missing from the seed rain at all sites, suggesting that these species are dispersal limited. This does not preclude recruitment limitations for these species, however, as several key physical conditions differ between restored sites and the reference site, which experiences less time inundated and higher summer soil salinity. Although a large amount of the seed rain is washed out of the marsh before becoming incorporated into the seed bank, total seed input is high at restored sites, suggesting that the natural seed supply is adequate to fully revegetate restored marshes, although with lower species richness than reference sites. The strongest influences on a species abundance in the seed rain are its frequency in the vegetation and seed production, suggesting that fecund species that colonize a site early will continue to dominate the seed rain and vegetation development in restored sites.