Changes in Community-Level Riparian Plant Traits over Inundation Gradients, Colorado River, Grand Canyon

• Published in: Wetlands (Wilmington, N.C.) Vol. 37; no. 4; pp. 635 - 646
• Main Authors: McCoy-Sulentic, Miles E., Kolb, Thomas E., Merritt, David M., Palmquist, Emily, Ralston, Barbara E., Sarr, Daniel A., Shafroth, Patrick B.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.08.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adaptation; Assembly; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Canyons; Coastal Sciences; Dams; Density; Drought; Ecology; Ecosystems; Environmental gradient; Environmental Management; Flooding; Floods; Flowers & plants; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Functionally gradient materials; Hydrogeology; Hydrologic regime; Landscape Ecology; Leaf area; Life Sciences; Original Research; Plant communities; Plants (botany); Riparian ecology; Rivers; Seeds; Shorelines; Specific gravity; Stream flow; Submergence; Vegetation; Vegetation cover; Glen Canyon Dam; Grand Canyon; Colorado River; Regulated river; Stream flow; Seed mass; Riparian; Plant functional trait; Stem specific gravity; Wood density; C4 photosynthesis; Specific leaf area

Comparisons of community-level functional traits across environmental gradients have potential for identifying links among plant characteristics, adaptations to stress and disturbance, and community assembly. We investigated community-level variation in specific leaf area (SLA), plant mature height,...