Ridge crest versus swale: Contrasting plant-water relations and performance indexes in two understory plant species in a coastal maritime forest

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Abstract

Coastal-ridge plains are progradational landforms composed of elevated ridges and low-lying swales. The transitions between ridges and swales are steep, promoting dynamic shifts between xeric and mesic systems. Two understory plants that co-occur in ridge plains of North American mid-Atlantic maritime forests are Sabal minor and Ilex vomitoria. As coastal-ridge plains foster varying amounts of surface and sub-surface water driven largely by topography, the purpose of this study was to evaluate plant-water relations and chlorophyll a fluorescence in these two species. Ridge plants had lower leaf and xylem-water potentials, lower osmotic potential (I. vomitoria), and lower symplastic water content (S. minor). Although there were no differences in potential and effective-quantum yields, there were decreases in fluorescence performance index for ridge I. vomitoria and swale S. minor. While the data support potential water-stress conditions in ridge plants of both species, the data also suggest that I. vomitoria and S. minor use different physiological processes to tolerate hydrologically dynamic ridge-swale maritime forests. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

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Touchette, B. W., Adams, E. C., Laimbeer, P., & Burn, G. A. (2012). Ridge crest versus swale: Contrasting plant-water relations and performance indexes in two understory plant species in a coastal maritime forest. Journal of Plant Interactions, 7(3), 271–282. https://doi.org/10.1080/17429145.2011.603061

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