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A dynamical model for characterising seasonality effects on eelgrass plastochron intervals
Author(s) -
SolanaArellano E.,
EchavarriaHeras H.,
FrancoVizcaíno E.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
annals of applied biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 80
eISSN - 1744-7348
pISSN - 0003-4746
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7348.2010.00414.x
Subject(s) - zostera marina , biology , seasonality , shoot , productivity , seagrass , statistics , botany , ecology , mathematics , ecosystem , macroeconomics , economics
The plastochron interval is widely used to calculate age and rates of productivity in many plants, including seagrasses. However, plant responses to changing environmental conditions, including seasonal patterns, can introduce substantial errors in methods for calculating age and rates of growth. We propose a generalised method for characterising seasonal variability in eelgrass plastochron values based on a model that consists of a linear combination of a trend, a seasonality component and a stochastic noise component. The model was validated using data obtained biweekly during 1998–2003 in a Zostera marina meadow in a coastal lagoon in northwestern Baja California. Plastochron intervals exhibited marked interannual and seasonal variability as well as in the timing of plastochron interval (PI) minima and maxima. Correlation analyses indicated that sea surface temperature is a fundamental forcing factor for the plastochron interval, whose local variability is influenced by the onset of ‘El Niño’ and ‘La Niña’ events. The proposed model provided reliable interpretations that elicited the existence of seasonal processes which are usually masked by multimodal changes in the plastochron interval. Using successive averages of seasonal PI to describe annual cycles resulted in reliable leaf‐growth assessments as well as in better determinations of shoot age than those calculated using a single annual mean.