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Species-Rich Plantings Increase Biomass And Nitrogen Accumulation In A Wetland Restoration Experiment, John Callaway, Gary Sullivan, Joy B. Zedler

Environmental Science

Our test of the hypothesis that biomass and nitrogen would increase with more species-rich plantings simultaneously vegetated a salt marsh restoration site and demonstrated that on average, randomly chosen, 6-species plantings accumulated more biomass and nitrogen than the mean for 0- and 1-species assemblages, with the mean for 3-species assemblages being intermediate. In addition, we found that individual species (from the pool of eight native halophytes) differed in their functional capacity, with Salicornia virginica (Sv) and Jaumea carnosa contributing the greatest biomass when planted alone, while Triglochin concinna had the highest tissue N concentrations. When planted alone, Sv accumulated comparable …