Title of Thesis: PLANT BIOMASS ALLOCATION AND COMPETITIVE INTERACTIONS IN COASTAL WETLANDS OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY: EXPERIMENTAL AND OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES Jenna Marie Clark, Master of Science, 2011 Thesis directed by: Dr. Andrew H. Baldwin, Department of Environmental Science and Technology Wetlands are diverse environments whose vegetation provides numerous natural services including flood and e...

The majority of cephalopods are thought to have limitations arising from physiology and locomotion that exclude them from shallow, highly variable, euryhaline environments. The brief squid Lolliguncula brevis may be a notable exception because it tolerates low salinities, withstands a wide range of environmental conditions, and swims readily in shallow water. Little is known about the distribut...

Zygophyllum simplex L. is a succulent annual that grows on the coastal and inland saline flats around Karachi, Pakistan. The seeds are moderately salt tolerant during germination. Germination of Zygophyllum simplex seeds under various salinity, proline, betaine, GA and kinetin treatments was determined. Proline (0±1 and 1 m) and betaine (0±1 and 1 m) alleviated the innate dormancy of seeds, a...

A contrasting trend pattern of sea surface salinity (SSS) between the western tropical Pacific (WTP) and the southeastern tropical Indian Ocean (SETIO) is observed during 2004-2013, with significant salinity increase in the WTP and freshening in the SETIO. In this study, we show that increased precipitation around the Maritime Continent (MC), decreased precipitation in the western-central tropi...

Sediments from 28 saline and hypersaline (salinity 13.6–149.2) ponds on Christmas Island (Kiritimati), in the Central tropical Pacific Ocean, were investigated for the effect of salinity on the D/H ratios of lipid biomarkers. Hydrogen isotope ratios (expressed as dD values) of total lipid extracts, and individual hydrocarbons heptadecane, heptadecene, octadecane, octadecene, diploptene, and phy...

Rice seedlings cv. Khao Dawk Mali 105 (salt-sensitive), Luang Anan (moderately salt-tolerant) and Pokkali (salt-tolerant) were exposed to 0, 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCI for 9 d. Salinity stress caused reduction in leaf relative water contents in all cultivars. Shoot length of cv. Pokkali was least affected by salinity stress whereas increased root length in response to salinity stress was apparent ...

Responses to moderate and extreme salinity change were investigated in White Sea Littorina saxatilis of different genetically determined shell colour morphs in order to test a hypothesis about physiological selection as a driving force of the change of phenotypic structure of this species along a salinity gradient in White Sea estuaries. Some of the studied physiological responses did not diffe...

To understand the effects of predicted warming and changing salinity of marine ecosystems, it is important to have a good knowledge of species vulnerability and their capacity to adapt to environmental changes. In spring and autumn of 2014, we conducted common garden experiments to investigate how different populations of the copepod Eurytemora affinis from the Baltic Sea respond to varying tem...

Salinity stress hampers plant growth and cause significant yield losses thus induction of salinity stress tolerance in crop plants is one of major goals of agriculture research. Arbuscular mycorhizae fungi Glomus etunicatum and acetyl salicylic acid were tested for induction of NaCl stress tolerance in tomato seedlings, cultivar No. 4. The seedlings were inoculated with Glomus etunicatum and ex...

Electromagnetic induction (EM) is a useful mean of assessing soil salinity in large areas, particularly after its calibration on different soils. Electromagnetic induction was used to monitor spatial and temporal changes of soil salinity within the saline irrigation district of Flumen, Spain. Soil salinity patterns in this region are entangled because of intensive land leveling and irrigation. ...