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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 59(3)

Floristic shifts in wetlands: the effects of environmental variables on the interaction between Phragmites australis (Common Reed) and Melaleuca ericifolia (Swamp Paperbark)

Kay Morris A , Paul I. Boon B D , Elisa J. Raulings A and Sean D. White C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Biodiversity: Analysis, Policy and Management, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.

B Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University, St Albans, Victoria 3021, Australia.

C School of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.

D Corresponding author. Email: paul.boon@vu.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 59(3) 187-204 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF07072
Submitted: 11 April 2007  Accepted: 11 January 2008   Published: 30 April 2008

Abstract

Over the past 40–50 years, the woody shrub Melaleuca ericifolia has progressively invaded large areas of Phragmites australis in Dowd Morass, a Ramsar-listed, brackish wetland in south-eastern Australia. To understand the processes underlying this shift we grew Phragmites and Melaleuca alone and together under contrasting sediment organic-matter loadings and salinities. To examine if the capacity of Phragmites to aerate the sediment influenced plant interactions, we also dissipated convective gas flow in some Phragmites plants by perforating their stems. Although Phragmites suppressed the growth of Melaleuca under all conditions, Melaleuca persisted. We did not find Phragmites ramets to be more sensitive to salinity than Melaleuca seedlings. Surprisingly Phragmites did not increase sediment redox and was more sensitive to increased organic-matter loading than Melaleuca. These results do not support the notion that colonisation by Melaleuca was facilitated by a decline in Phragmites at higher salinities or through aeration of the sediments by Phragmites. Seedlings of Melaleuca, however, were easily blown over by wind and it is likely that Phragmites stands shelter Melaleuca during establishment. Although our short-term experiment did not show that Melaleuca was a better competitor, differences in seasonal growth patterns may contribute to a shift in competitive abilities over a longer time scale.

Additional keywords: cellulose, convective gas flow, Gippsland Lakes, redox potential, salinity, soil oxygenation.


Acknowledgements

This project was funded principally by Land and Water Australia under projects UMO41 and UTV2. We thank Michael Roache, Matt Hatton and Robert Gomer for their assistance with the pond experiments. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.


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