Herbaceous Wetlands of the Yucatan Peninsula: Communities at Extreme Ends of Environmental Gradients

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Abstract
Distribution of wetland communities and growth characteristics of dominant macrophyte species were studied in the SE and NW parts of the Yucatan Peninsula. Plant, water and soil samples were collected from 40 marshes ranging from permanently flooded to seasonally drying. Marsh soils were identified as either peats, mark or clays with many intergrades. Water quality ranged from mesosaline (chloride or sulfate dominated) to fresh (carbonate dominated). Nutrient concentrations, specifically phoshorus, were low. The dominant species wereTypha domingensis(TD),Cladium jamaicense(CJ),Eleocharis cellulosa(EC),E. interstincta(EI), and algal mats composed mostly of blue green algae (BG). EC and BG dominate marshes with marly soils and high salinities. C3 grows well on peaty soils and is well adapted to extremely low phosphorus concentrations and occasional drying. TD dominates nutrient rich marshes with deep water and clayey soils. The species differ significantly in their growth, death and decomposition rates. All these rates are highest for TD, followed closely by EC, and slowest for CJ.