Armeria maritima

About: Armeria maritima is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 92 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2990 citations. The topic is also known as: Sea thrift & Sea Pink.

The effects of salinity and waterlogging on the growth and cation uptake of salt marsh plants

Abstract: Summary Festuca rubra, Juncus gerardii, Armeria maritima, Plantago maritima, Aster tripolium, Triglochin maritima, Puccinellia maritima and Salicornia europaea from a salt marsh near Portaferry, County Down, were grown on drained and waterlogged salt marsh soils under saline and non-saline conditions. Shoot and root yields and the concentrations of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese and iron in the shoots were determined after a 2-month growing period. The tolerance of the plants to waterlogging and salinity differed in a way which was correlated with their position on the salt marsh ecotone. The growth of upper marsh species, but not that of lower marsh species, was strongly limited by both salinity and waterlogging. Only Salicornia europaea gave its maximum yield on the saline treatments and only Puccinellia maritima showed a preference for waterlogged soils. Reduced yields on the saline treatments were associated with large increases in shoot sodium concentrations but in general, salinity and waterlogging had little effect on shoot cation concentrations. It is suggested that factors other than the greater availibility of iron and manganese on araerobic salt marsh soils are involved in determining species distribution along the salt marsh ecotone.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization of halophytes in Central European salt marshes

Abstract: Halophytes from both coastal and inland Central European salt marshes were examined for colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Plants from different families were strongly colonized but the degree of colonization varied with the individual plant and apparently during the vegetation period, too. Members of the typical non-mycorrhizal families like Armeria maritima of the Plumbaginaceae and Salicornia europaea of the Chenopodiaceae were found to be colonized, particularly in the drier salt marshes. High numbers of Glomus spores were found in the saline soils, especially those of the inland locations examined. Approximately 80% of these spores were from Glomus geosporum as shown by a typical restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) pattern of the amplified internal transcribed spacer regions. The present study demonstrates that RFLP analysis is useful when screening habitats for the occurrence of mycorrhizal fungi which can be identified only with difficulty by morphological criteria.

Does managed coastal realignment create saltmarshes with ‘equivalent biological characteristics’ to natural reference sites?

Abstract: Summary Coastal saltmarshes provide distinctive biodiversity and important ecosystem services, including coastal defence, supporting fisheries and nutrient cycling. However, c. 50% of the world's coastal marshes are degraded or have been lost, with losses continuing. In both Europe and North America, there is a legal requirement to create habitats to substitute for losses. How well do created habitats replicate natural salt marshes? We compared plant communities and environmental characteristics of 18 deliberately realigned (managed realignment, MR - between 1 and 14 years old), 17 accidentally realigned (AR, 25–131 years old) sites with those on 34 natural reference saltmarshes in the UK. Halophytic species colonized individual realignment sites rapidly, attaining species richness similar to nearby reference marshes after 1 year. Nevertheless, the community composition of MR sites was significantly different from reference sites, with early-successional species remaining dominant, even on the high marsh. The dominance of pioneer species on the low and mid-marsh may be because, at the same elevation, sediments were less oxygenated than on reference sites. Sediments were well oxygenated on the high marsh, but were often drier than on natural marshes. Overall community composition of AR marshes was not significantly different to reference marshes, but the characteristic perennials Limonium vulgare, Triglochin maritima, Plantago maritima and Armeria maritima remained relatively rare. In contrast, the shrub Atriplex portulacoides was more abundant, and its growth form may inhibit or delay colonization by other species. Synthesis and applications. Marshes created by managed realignment do not satisfy the requirements of the EU Habitats Directive. Adherence to the Directive might be improved by additional management interventions, such as manipulation of topographic heterogeneity or planting of mid- and upper-marsh species. However, given the inherent variation in natural saltmarshes and projected environmental change, policies that require exact equivalence at individual sites may be unachievable. More realistic goals might require minimum levels of a range of ecosystem functions on a broader scale, across catchments or regions.