Format: ORAL

Wenwen Liu, Yihui Zhang

Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Coastal and Wetland Ecosystems, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

Coastal saltmarsh wetlands provide high levels of ecosystem services. Many of these services stem from the vegetation of coastal saltmarsh systems. However, global change has posed a serious threat to coastal salt marshes in recent years. Therefore, it is critical to determine the spatio-temporal patterns, ecological processes and adaptation mechanisms of coastal saltmarsh vegetation. In this study, the global invasive salt marsh plant Spartina alterniflora was taken as the model salt marsh plant, and studied at the individual, population, and community levels. In particular, we studied the spatial and temporal dynamics, ecological processes and adaptation mechanisms of different levels of vegetation in coastal saltmarshes in response to multi-scale environmental gradients. Our study identified three key findings: 1) we clarified that the spatio-temporal allometric patterns in S. alterniflora followed self-thinning and life-history theory, suggesting that salt marsh plants may serve as simple, model systems for studies of plant life history. 2) Intraspecific hybridization and rapid evolution drive different latitudinal clines in S. alterniflora in the native and introduced ranges, indicating the importance of phenotypic plasticity and genetic control of change during the invasion process. 3) Community composition, distance, and latitude alter the synchrony and stability of S. alterniflora biomass, suggesting that managers should identify the most sensitive habitat to abiotic variation as a priority for monitoring. In summary, the above multi-level and multi-scale studies clarified the pattern, process, and mechanism of coastal salt marsh wetlands, and provided new methods, perspectives, and ideas for establishing salt marsh model system, understanding its ecological service value, and protecting habitat and species diversity. Furthermore, it also provides decision support for the adaptive scientific management of coastal wetlands under global change.