title: Flowering and biomass allocation in U.S. Atlantic coast Spartina alterniflora.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Salt marshes are highly productive and valuable ecosystems, providing many services on which people depend. Spartina alterniflora Loisel (Poaceae) is a foundation species that builds and maintains salt marshes. Despite this species' importance, much of its basic reproductive biology is not well understood, including flowering phenology, seed production, and the effects of flowering on growth and biomass allocation. We sought to better understand these life history traits and use that knowledge to consider how this species may be affected by climate change.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined temporal and spatial patterns in flowering and seed production in S. alterniflora at a latitudinal scale (along the U.S. Atlantic coast), regional scale (within New England), and local scale (among subhabitats within marshes) and determined the impact of flowering on growth allocation using field and greenhouse studies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Flowering stem density did not vary along a latitudinal gradient, while at the local scale plants in the less submerged panne subhabitats produced fewer flowers and seeds than those in more frequently submerged subhabitats. We also found that a shift in biomass allocation from above to belowground was temporally related to flowering phenology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We expect that environmental change will affect seed production and that the phenological relationship with flowering will result in limitations to belowground production and thus affect marsh elevation gain. Salt marshes provide an excellent model system for exploring the interactions between plant ecology and ecosystem functioning, enabling better predictions of climate change impacts.
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 USA Marine Biological Laboratory, Ecosystems Center, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 USA.
authors.forename: Sarah C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Crosby
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 USA.
authors.forename: Morgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ivens-Duran
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 USA.
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Bertness
authors.affiliation: U.S. EPA, Office of Research and Development, National Heath and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Atlantic Ecology Division, Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882 USA.
authors.forename: Earl
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Davey
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 USA Marine Biological Laboratory, Ecosystems Center, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 USA.
authors.forename: Linda A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Deegan
authors.affiliation: Brown University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 USA Marine Biological Laboratory, Ecosystems Center, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 USA Brown University, Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Box 1951, 85 Waterman Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02912 USA.
authors.forename: Heather M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Leslie
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D057231:Climate Change; D035264:Flowers / Q000502:physiology; D006109:Poaceae / Q000502:physiology*; D012098:Reproduction; D012621:Seasons; D012639:Seeds / Q000502:physiology; D014481:United States; D053833:Wetlands
keywords: Spartina alterniflora; biomass allocation; flowering; phenology; seed supply