Journal of Coastal Research

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Journal of Coastal Research 23(1):255-264. 2007
doi: 10.2112/1551-5036(2007)23[255:WUPOAI]2.0.CO;2

Water Uptake Patterns of an Invasive Exotic Plant in Coastal Saline Habitats

Sharon M. L. Ewe* and Leonel da Silveira Lobo Sternberg

Department of Biology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida 33124, U.S.A

* Present address: Southeast Environmental Research Center, Florida International University, Miami, Florida 33199, U.S.A.;

Abstract

Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Schinus) is one of the most widely found woody exotic species in South Florida. This exotic is distributed across environments with different hydrologic regimes, from upland pine forests to the edges of sawgrass marshes and into saline mangrove forests. To determine if this invasive exotic had different physiological attributes compared to native species in a coastal habitat, we measured predawn xylem water potentials (Ψ), oxygen stable isotope signatures (δ18O), and sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) contents of sap water from plants within: (1) a transition zone (between a mangrove forest and upland pineland) and (2) an upland pineland in Southwest Florida. Under dynamic salinity and hydrologic conditions, Ψ of Schinus appeared less subject to fluctuations caused by seasonality when compared with native species. Although stem water δ18O values could not be used to distinguish the depth of Schinus and native species' water uptake in the transition zone, Ψ and sap Na+/K+ patterns showed that Schinus was less of a salt excluder relative to the native upland species during the dry season. This exotic also exhibited Na+/K+ ratios similar to the mangrove species, indicating some salinity tolerance. In the upland pineland, Schinus water uptake patterns were not significantly different from those of native species. Differences between Schinus and native upland species, however, may provide this exotic an advantage over native species within mangrove transition zones.

Received: 9 June 2004; Accepted: 20 May 2005

Keywords: Water potential, Na+/K+ ratios, stable isotopes, salinity, Brazilian pepper



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Figure 1. Map of Florida (inset) indicating the location of Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. The relative locations of the upland pineland (P) and transition zone (T) sites are shown relative to Henderson Creek. The clear areas are upland areas, usually sandy pinelands. The stippled areas are salt marshes, and the dashed horizontal areas are mangrove forests.

Figure 2. Spatial heterogeneity of salinity (in ppt) at 50 cm depth within a 10 m × 10 m grid at the end of the wet season (November 1997) and at the middle of the dry season (February 1998). Porewater was sampled at 1-m intervals within this grid. These data are a subset from Ewe (2001).

Figure 3. Vertical profiles of soil salinity (ppt). Circles indicate means (± SEM) from the transition zone (dry season 1998, ○ wet season 1998, □), and the freshwater pineland site is shown in triangles (dry season, ; wet season, ). For clarity, only two seasons are shown in each of the graphs. Salinity and water content from the third season (dry season 1999) are not significantly different from those of the previous dry season.

Figure 4. The Na+/K+ ratios (± SEM) of extruded sap water from Schinus compared to the mangrove and upland species for a wet (dark bars) and dry (clear bars) season within the transition zone. Above each bar, the same letters indicate that these values do not differ significantly at the p = 0.05 level using a post-hoc Bonferroni comparison of means.

Figure 5. Vertical profile of soil δ18O values (average ± SEM) for both the wet and dry seasons at the two study sites. Average plant δ18O (± SEM) are shown along the positive range of the y-axis. Species names followed by the same letters indicate that these values are not significantly different at the p = 0.05 level using a post-hoc Bonferroni comparison of means.

Figure 6. Predawn xylem water potentials (± SEM) of two dry and wet seasons in both the transition zone and upland pinelands. Striped bars represent the 1997 wet season; clear bars represent the 1998 dry season; stippled bars represent the 1998 wet season; and the gray bars represent the 1999 dry season. Asterisks (*) indicate significant seasonal differences within species when analyzed with a post-hoc Bonferroni test for season × species interaction.

table

Table 1. Sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) contents (in mmol/L) (±SEM) of plant sap in the transition zone during the wet and dry seasons.*

table

Table 2. Two-factor ANOVAs of plant Ψ examining the effects of species and season in the transition zone and the upland pineland.

table

Table 3. A Three-factor ANOVA of Schinus, Rapanea punctata, and Randia aculeata predawn water potentials for the two sites and three seasons sampled.

Cited by

Sharon M. L. Ewe, Leonel da S. L. Sternberg, Daniel L. Childers. (2007) Seasonal plant water uptake patterns in the saline southeast Everglades ecotone. Oecologia 152:4, 607-616
Online publication date: 14-Jul-2007.
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