Salt marsh flora and vegetation of the Russian Arctic coasts

The flora of open coasts and the estuaries of rivers is an important element of the Arctic flora and represents the littoral halophytic floristic complex. The salt marsh flora includes 113 species of vascular plants (12% of the total amount of Arctic flora), belonging to 62 families. Due to geographical conditions, the partial floras of coastal wetlands of the Russian Arctic have similar taxonomic and typological structure. In the geographical structure of flora-coenotic complex, the Arctic circumpolar species dominate. The Arctic coastlines are subjected to frequent disturbances associated with frost action, storms and ice pressure ridges that affect species richness and the ability of human populations to exploit coastal resources successfully. The dynamic changes of salt-marsh plant communities are site-specific: 1) in the initial stages, vegetation development mostly depends on the physical-chemical substrate properties and tidal action, 2) the spatial-temporal processes of successional change over a long time result in the environment development and changes in edaphic conditions. The time scale of these changes brought about by disturbances is biologically important as there must be sufficient time to allow genetic adaptation in plant and animal populations

Ecophysiological characteristics of the coastal plants in the conditions of the tidal zone on the coasts of Svalbard

Content of chlorophylls, carotenoids, and flavonoids were determined in leaves of 26 plant species growing in the tidal zone of the Grnfjord coast at the Western Spitsbergen. Species of Ranunculaceae, Polygonaceae, Boraginaceae, Juncaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Cyperaceae, Saxifragaceae, Poaceae families were included in the study. The analyses showed that chlorophyll (Chl) content (chlorophyll a+b) of the investigated species varied from 0.16 to 2.4 mg g-1 of fresh mass, carotenoids varied from 0.1 to 0.7 mg g-1 of fresh mass, and flavonoides ranged from 0.8 to 9.7%. This comparative study aimed to the evaluation of differences in functional activity of photosynthetic apparatus of the dominant species under natural conditions of their habitats on the coastal zone of high tidal seas of the Arctic. Most of the dominant species of the tidal zone had higher values of Chl content and flavanoides. The study showed that plants grown along a transect from the water line through a tidal zone exhibited different ways of adaptation. The differences were found in the contents of photosynthetic pigments, and flavonoids. Besides that, some plants formed special morphological structures of leaves (grey dead vegetative organs and cuticular vax) and growth forms

Photosynthetic characteristics of three species of the family Plantaginaceae growing on high and low tide coastal areas of the White Sea

CO2 gas exchange, transpiration, stomatal conductance, water use efficiency and chlorophyll content were investigated at the leaves of three species of the family Plantaginaceae: Plantago maritima L., Plantago subpolaris Andrejev and Plantago schrenkii C.Koch under natural conditions of the habitat on high and low tide areas of the White Sea’ coasts. The high rate of photosynthesis at saturating CO2 (PNmax) at P. maritima (85.0±4.8 μmol m-2 s-1), as compared to P. subpolaris and P. schrenkii (45.2± 7.5 and 36.9±3.2 μmol m-2 s-1) was caused by high activity of ribulose-1,5-bisphoshate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBPCO), the rate of electron transport, the rate of triose phosphate utilization, TPU), as well as high efficiency of carboxylation. The rates of photosynthesis at ambient concentration of CO2 (PN) at P. maritima were 1.4 and 1.7 times higher compared to P. subpolaris and P. schrenkii. Plants of P. schrenkii are characterized by lower values of stomatal conductance and water use efficiency compared to P. maritima and P. subpolaris. In natural habitat, the limiting factor of CO2 assimilation P. subpolaris is the rate of photosynthetic electron transport, the activity of RuBPCO in P. schrenkii

Features of the structural organization and biomorphology of dominant plant species of Holarctic seas’ coasts along the tidal gradient

Investigations of the population and biomorphology of dominant species Plantago maritima L. (fam. Plantaginaceae) and Triglochin maritima L. (fam. Juncaginaceae) along the tidal gradient of the coasts of the White Sea are presented. The western coast of the White Sea has been chosen as a sample of Holarctic seas’ coasts. These 2 euhalophyte species represent a group of the allochthonous elements that came from to the Arctic coasts the Middle Asia in the Pliocene-Pleistocene time. In our study, we evaluated structural and functional characteristics of populations of the two species along the tidal gradient. We found that vitality-ontogenetic structure of the populations and their biomorphological characteristics significantly differ depending on the tidal level and substrate structure. The different adaptive peculiarities of these species growing in these habitats were observed. Along the gradient from sea level to the native shore, the biomorphological indexes (number of shoots per plant, number of leaves per shoots, leaves parameters, length of the floriferous stem and spike, dry mass of aboveground shoots of plants) of the Triglochin maritima populations significantly decreased, while the same indexes of the Plantago maritima populations increased. The obtained results show the significant variability of all morphometric parameters of vegetative organs as well as generative features along the tidal gradient of these circumpolar plant species

Morphological and functional peculiarities of saltmarsh plants and epilithic lichens in tidal conditions of Russian Arctic Seas

Ecological plasticity in the tidal zone, specifically the effects of daily and seasonal dy-namics of environmental factors on the dominant species of vascular plants and epilithic lichens has been studied. The investigations were conducted on the Pomorian coast of the White Sea (Republic of Karelia) during two growing seasons (2012-2013). The studies of the morphological and anatomical characteristics of dominant individuals in the plant and lichen cover types have been made along the model transect through different substrate types. Determination of plasticity of plants and lichens was made by the method of Cornelissen exploiting coefficient of variation (CV). The obtained data showed that the investigated groups of vascular plants and lichens on the tidal zone on all measured morphological and anatomical parameters have a high level of plasticity

An Integrative Salt Marsh Conceptual Framework for Global Comparisons

Salt marshes occur globally across climatic and coastal settings, providing key linkages between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. However, salt marsh science lacks a unifying conceptual framework; consequently, historically well-studied locations have been used as normative benchmarks. To allow for more effective comparisons across the diversity of salt marshes, we developed an integrative salt marsh conceptual framework. We review ecosystem-relevant drivers from global to local spatial scales, integrate these multi-scale settings into a framework, and provide guidance on applying the framework using specific variables on 11 global examples. Overall, this framework allows for appropriate comparison of study sites by accounting for global, coastal, inter-, and intra-system spatial settings unique to each salt marsh. We anticipate that incorporating this framework into salt marsh science will provide a mechanism to critically evaluate research questions and a foundation for effective quantitative studies that deepen our understanding of salt marsh function across spatial scales

An integrative salt marsh conceptual framework for global comparisons

Salt marshes occur globally across climatic and coastal settings, providing key linkages between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. However, salt marsh science lacks a unifying conceptual framework; consequently, historically well-studied locations have been used as normative benchmarks. To allow for more effective comparisons across the diversity of salt marshes, we developed an integrative salt marsh conceptual framework. We review ecosystem-relevant drivers from global to local spatial scales, integrate these multi-scale settings into a framework, and provide guidance on applying the framework using specific variables on 11 global examples. Overall, this framework allows for appropriate comparison of study sites by accounting for global, coastal, inter-, and intra-system spatial settings unique to each salt marsh. We anticipate that incorporating this framework into salt marsh science will provide a mechanism to critically evaluate research questions and a foundation for effective quantitative studies that deepen our understanding of salt marsh function across spatial scales

Features of the structural organization and biomorphology of dominant plant species of Holarctic seas’ coasts along the tidal gradient

Investigations of the population and biomorphology of dominant species Plantago maritima L. (fam. Plantaginaceae) and Triglochin maritima L. (fam. Juncaginaceae) along the tidal gradient of the coasts of the White Sea are presented. The western coast of the White Sea has been chosen as a sample of Holarctic seas’ coasts. These 2 euhalophyte species represent a group of the allochthonous elements that came from to the Arctic coasts the Middle Asia in the Pliocene-Pleistocene time. In our study, we evaluated structural and functional characteristics of populations of the two species along the tidal gradient. We found that vitality-ontogenetic structure of the populations and their biomorphological characteristics significantly differ depending on the tidal level and substrate structure. The different adaptive peculiarities of these species growing in these habitats were observed. Along the gradient from sea level to the native shore, the biomorphological indexes (number of shoots per plant, number of leaves per shoots, leaves parameters, length of the floriferous stem and spike, dry mass of aboveground shoots of plants) of the Triglochin maritima populations significantly decreased, while the same indexes of the Plantago maritima populations increased. The obtained results show the significant variability of all morphometric parameters of vegetative organs as well as generative features along the tidal gradient of these circumpolar plant species