Response of West Coast Beach Taxa to Salt Spray, Seawater Inundation, and Soil Salinity

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Twelve taxa, characteristic of beach vegetation along the Pacific Coast of the USA [Abronia latifolia, A. maritima, A. chamissonis, A. chamissonis ssp. bipinnatisecta, *Atriplex leucophylla, Cakile edentula, C. martima, Calystegia soldanella, Camissonia cheiranthifolia, Lathyrus japonicus, L. littoralis and one ecotype *] were grown from seed and subjected to realistic levels of salt spray (50 mg dm-2 day-1) and seawater inundation (residual soil salinity of 3,328 ppm). Mortality, morphology, and biomass were measured and combined in a tolerance index. For most taxa, this tolerance index correlated well with zonation position in the field (average plant position from tide line inland to foredune; r > 0.85). Three or 4 taxa behaved anomalously, exhibiting either much more or much less tolerance than expected from their zonation position, and it is concluded that a single-factor approach is too native to account for the distribution of all beach taxa.