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Salt Marsh Plant Community Structure On Horse Island, South Carolina, Mackenzie L. Jenkins, Jennifer L. Schafer

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Sea level rise is causing an increase in salt water encroachment and flooding in many coastal habitats, and increasing salinity can have negative impacts on plant communities. The objective of our research was to determine the impact of salinity on salt marsh plant community structure on Horse Island, South Carolina. We investigated variation in plant cover and height with distance from a tidal creek and the effect of increasing salinity on seedling emergence from the seed bank. We established three transects in the salt marsh habitat and recorded plant species presence, percent cover of each species, and height of the …