Plant Adaptability and Vegetation Differentiation in the Coastal Beaches of Yellow–Bohai Sea in China

Qian Dong, Qingqing Zhang, Anbang Liao, Chi Xu and Maosong Liu
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Qian Dong: School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210046, China
Qingqing Zhang: School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210046, China
Anbang Liao: School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210046, China
Chi Xu: School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210046, China
Maosong Liu: School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210046, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-24

Abstract: To identify the key soil factors influencing the vegetation differentiation in the coastal tidal flats of the Yellow−Bohai Sea in China, this study investigated the corresponding relationship between the Spartina alterniflora (SA), Suaeda salsa (SS), and Phragmites australis (PA) communities and their respective soil factors with published data, and combined the ecological strategy for analysis. The results showed a corresponding relationship between community and soil factors. The SA community had a lower bulk density (BD) and higher soil total nitrogen (TN), and the SS community was the opposite, while the PA community had the lowest salinity and higher TN. BD, salinity and TN acted as the main soil factors driving vegetation differentiation, but the explained proportion of the three factors to vegetation differentiation changed by season and region. Considering that higher TN facilitates the competitors, salinity represents the environmental stresses, and BD is positively related to the frequency of perturbation in the specific habitat in the study area, SA, SS and PA could be recognized as C–S, S–R and C strategic species to some extent. It is likely that some coexistent mechanisms for invasive and local species will be developed, especially the SS community which seriously shrunk recently but served as an important habitat for waterfowls in tidal flat habitats.

Keywords: community–soil corresponding relationship; ecological strategy; vegetation differentiation; coastal wetlands ecosystem; Spartina alterniflora; Suaeda salsa; Phragmites australis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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