Skip Navigation



AOBPreview published online on July 30, 2009
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mcp183
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Yu, S.
Right arrow Articles by Ehrenfeld, J. G.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Yu, S.
Right arrow Articles by Ehrenfeld, J. G.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Yu, S.
Right arrow Articles by Ehrenfeld, J. G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Relationships among plants, soils and microbial communities along a hydrological gradient in the New Jersey Pinelands, USA

Shen Yu{dagger} and Joan G. Ehrenfeld*

Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, SEBS, 14 College Farm Road, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA

* For correspondence. E-mail ehrenfel{at}rci.rutgers.edu

Received: 4 February 2009    Returned for revision: 11 May 2009    Accepted: 4 June 2009   

Background and Aims: Understanding the role of different components of hydrology in structuring wetland communities is not well developed. A sequence of adjacent wetlands located on a catenary sequence of soils and receiving the same sources and qualities of water is used to examine specifically the role of water-table median position and variability in affecting plant and microbial community composition and soil properties.

Methods: Two replicates of three types of wetland found adjacent to each other along a hydrological gradient in the New Jersey Pinelands (USA) were studied. Plant-community and water-table data were obtained within a 100-m2 plot in each community (pine swamp, maple swamp and Atlantic-white-cedar swamp). Monthly soil samples from each plot were analysed for soil moisture, organic matter, extractable nitrogen fractions, N mineralization rate and microbial community composition. Multivariate ordination methods were used to compare patterns among sites within and between data sets.

Key Results: The maple and pine wetlands were more similar to each other in plant community composition, soil properties and microbial community composition than either was to the cedar swamps. However, maple and pine wetlands differed from each other in water-table descriptors as much as they differed from the cedar swamps. All microbial communities were dominated by Gram-positive bacteria despite hydrologic differences among the sites. Water-table variability was as important as water-table level in affecting microbial communities.

Conclusions: Water tables affect wetland communities through both median level and variability. Differentiation of both plant and microbial communities are not simple transforms of differences in water-table position, even when other hydrologic factors are kept constant. Rather, soil genesis, a result of both water-table position and geologic history, appears to be the main factor affecting plant and microbial community similarities.

Key words: Forested wetland, hydric soil, wetland hydrology, microbial community, plant community, PLFA, soil moisture, topographic gradient, water table, New Jersey Pinelands

{dagger} Present address: Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1799 Jimei Road, Xiamen, China.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.