Significant ecological, hydrologic, and geomorphic changes have occurred during the 20th century along many large floodplain rivers in the American Southwest. Native Populus forests have declined, while the exotic Eurasian shrub, Tamarix, has proliferated and now dominates most floodplain ecosystems. Photographs from late 19th and early 20th centuries illustrate wide river channels with largely...

Theory suggests that species distributions are expanded by positive species interactions, but the importance of facilitation in expanding species distributions at physiological range limits has not been widely recognized. We investigated the effects of the nurse shrub Tamarix chinensis on the crab Helice tientsinensis on the terrestrial borders of salt marshes, a typical coastal ecotone, where ...

Invasion by the non-native tree Tamarix has led to implementation of restoration projects aimed at maintaining the ecological integrity of many riparian communities in the southwestern United States. These restoration efforts may include Tamarix removal, manipulation of hydrologic regimes, and active revegetation of native species. The goal of this study was to determine which site characterist...

Despite growing concern and research interest in plant invasions, we know very little about ecological processes involved during invasion episodes. Understanding these dynamics is especially important for habitats subject to reestablishment of historical disturbance regimes; because many invasive species respond positively to disturbance, interactions between colonizing natives and nonnatives a...

1. Large-scale invasions of riparian trees can alter the quantity and quality of allochthonous inputs of leaf litter to streams and thus have the potential to alter stream organic matter dynamics. Non-native saltcedar (Tamarix sp.) and Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) are now among the most common trees in riparian zones in western North America, yet their impacts on energy flow in stream...

Hydrologic alterations of river systems in western North America over the past century have increased soil salinity, contributing to the establishment and spread of an introduced halophytic species, Tamarix ramosissima (Ledeb.). The physiological responses of Tamarix ramosissima to salinity stress are incompletely known. To assess the salinity tolerance of this species, we measured several whol...

Tamarix ramosissima is a naturalized, nonnative plant species which has become widespread along riparian corridors throughout the western United States. We test the hypothesis that the distribution and success of Tamarix result from human modification of river-flow regimes. We conducted a natural experiment in eight ecoregions in arid and semiarid portions of the western United States, measurin...

Populus deltoides subsp. wislizinii (Salicaceae), a cottonwood native to the Middle Rio Grande of New Mexico, must potentially compete against exotic Tamarix ramosissima (Tamaricaceae) during establishment after flooding. We investigated competitive interactions between seedlings of Tamarix and Populus in two substrates representing field textures and declining (i.e., draw-down) or stagnant wat...

Tamarix is one kind of shrub which is widespread species in sand and saline land in arid and semi-arid regions. Tamarix has been paid more attentions for its unique physiological and ecological features, and important socioeconomic effects. In order to study the biomass and growth status of Tamarix, we need to measure the morphological parameters (e.g. height, perimeter of canopy). However, the...

We examined the impact climate change (CC) will have on the availability of climatically suitable habitat for three native and one exotic riparian species. Due to its increasing prevalence in arid regions throughout the western US, we predicted that an exotic species, Tamarix, would have the greatest increase in suitable habitat relative to native counterparts under CC. We used an ecological ni...