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Salinity and Simulated Herbivory Influence Spartina alterniflora Traits and Defense Strategy

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Abstract

Sea level rise is expected to push saline waters into previously fresher regions of estuaries, and higher salinities may expose oligohaline marshes to invertebrate herbivores typically constrained by salinity. The smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora (syn. Sporobolus alterniflorus), can defend itself against herbivores in polyhaline marshes, however it is not known if S. alterniflora’s defense varies along the mesohaline to oligohaline marsh gradient in estuaries. I found that S. alterniflora from a mesohaline marsh is better defended than plants from an oligohaline marsh, supporting the optimal defense theory. Higher salinity treatments lowered carbon content, C:N, and new stem biomass production, traits associated with a tolerance strategy, suggesting that salinity may mediate the defense response of S. alterniflora. Further, simulated herbivory increased the nitrogen content and decreased C:N of S. alterniflora. This indicates that grazing may increase S. alterniflora susceptibility to future herbivory via improved forage quality. Simulated herbivory also decreased both belowground and new stem biomass production, highlighting a potential pathway in which herbivory can indirectly facilitate marsh loss, as S. alterniflora biomass is critical for vertical accretion and marsh stability under future sea level rise scenarios.

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Acknowledgments

I thank the following people for help in the field and laboratory: Bethany Williams, Danielle Doucette, and Manisha Pant, and special thanks to Caroline Failon for her hard work and dedication to my mesocosms. Thank you to the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve of Virginia (CBNERR–VA) for access to the collection sites. Additional gratitude goes to my advisor, Dr. David Johnson, for his support and comments which improved this manuscript. Lastly, I thank Bucket Head and my Tevas for never tiring of algae. This paper is Contribution No. 3949 of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary.

Funding

I am thankful to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Student Research Grant, Virginia Sea Grant (grant # V721500), and the National Science Foundation (grant # 1832221) for funding this project.

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  1. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary, 1370 Greate Road, Gloucester Point, VA, 23062, USA

    Serina Sebilian Wittyngham

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Correspondence to Serina Sebilian Wittyngham.

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Communicated by R. Scott Warren

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ESM 1

Mean soluble protein content (milligrams/gram dry mass) of S. alterniflora tissues across nitrogen content (percent dry mass). Trend line represents smoothed linear regression line (PNG 904 kb).

High resolution image (EPS 9 kb).

ESM 2

Mean phenolic concentrations (milligrams/gram dry mass) of S. alterniflora tissues across new stem biomass (grams). Trend line represents smoothed linear regression line (PNG 904 kb).

High resolution image (EPS 8 kb).

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Wittyngham, S.S. Salinity and Simulated Herbivory Influence Spartina alterniflora Traits and Defense Strategy. Estuaries and Coasts 44, 1183–1192 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00841-x

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