Abstract
Dating saltmarshes is a fundamental step to conserve them suitably, because the oldest saltmarshes are becoming increasingly rare and host a particular biodiversity. In a French Atlantic saltmarsh, we counted tree rings on Suaeda vera, a ligneous plant of the European saltmarshes. We considered that the age of the stem may give the minimal age of the saltmarsh on which it grows as this is a specialist species of this habitat. By combining the dating of the saltmarsh using this proxy with a classical dating based on a photo-interpretation method, we found that the count of tree rings on S. vera gives an accurate dating of the minimal age of a saltmarsh patch. However, because of the rather low longevity of this species (maximum of 27 years in the investigated area), old maps and aerial photographs still remain essential to date the oldest saltmarsh patches. We further discuss: (1) the potential use of cross-dating on dead stems of the plant to reconstruct the long-history of saltmarshes; (2) the potential link between the growth velocity of S. vera and the spatial dynamics of saltmarshes.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Jacques Marquis (ONCFS) for facilitating the access to the study site, and Louis Mesona for his help in the field and in the lab. Special thanks to Allya Le Peigne for helpful comments on a first draft of this manuscript.
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This research was supported by the Observatoire des Sciences de l’Univers de Nantes Atlantique (OSUNA).
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LG and AD designed the field sampling. CP mosaicked and georeferenced the aerial photographs. AD performed the tree-ring count at the laboratory. LG and AD did the analyses. LG, AD and CP wrote the manuscript.
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Godet, L., Decaulne, A. & Poirier, C. Dating saltmarshes using tree rings on a halophilous plant. Wetlands Ecol Manage 28, 815–823 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-020-09751-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-020-09751-y