<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>J.E. Rooth</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>K.L. McKee</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2008</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Our understanding of how elevated CO&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;and interactions with other factors will affect coastal plant communities is limited. Such information is particularly needed for transitional communities where major vegetation types converge. Tropical mangroves (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Avicennia germinans&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;) intergrade with temperate salt marshes (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Spartina alterniflora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;) in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and this transitional community represents an important experimental system to test hypotheses about global change impacts on critical ecosystems. We examined the responses of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;A. germinans&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;(C&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;3&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;) and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;S. alterniflora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;(C&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;), grown in monoculture and mixture in mesocosms for 18 months, to interactive effects of atmospheric CO&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;and pore water nitrogen (N) concentrations typical of these marshes.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;A. germinans&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;, grown without competition from&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;S. alterniflora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;, increased final biomass (35%) under elevated CO&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;treatment and higher N availability. Growth of&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;A. germinans&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;was severely curtailed, however, when grown in mixture with&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;S. alterniflora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;, and enrichment with CO&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;and N could not reverse this growth suppression. A field experiment using mangrove seedlings produced by CO&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;‐ and N‐enriched trees confirmed that competition from&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;S. alterniflora&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;suppressed growth under natural conditions and further showed that herbivory greatly reduced survival of all seedlings. Thus, mangroves will not supplant marsh vegetation due to elevated CO&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;alone, but instead will require changes in climate, environmental stress, or disturbance to alter the competitive balance between these species. However, where competition and herbivory are low, elevated CO&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;may accelerate mangrove transition from the seedling to sapling stage and also increase above‐ and belowground production of existing mangrove stands, particularly in combination with higher soil N.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span id="_mce_caret" data-mce-bogus="1" data-mce-type="format-caret"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01547.x</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>Wiley</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Where temperate meets tropical: Multi-factorial effects of elevated CO2, nitrogen enrichment, and competition on a mangrove-salt marsh community</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>