Seasonality effect on physiology and Growth performances of Caribbean mangrove tree species

Bompy, Felix;Dulormne, Maguy;Dufay, Benoît;Mira, Eeonore;Imbert, Daniel;et.al.
(2013) The 50th Anniversary Meeting Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS ) — Location: San José, Costa Rica (24.June.2013)

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Authors
  • Bompy, FelixUniversité des Antilles et de la Guyane
    Author
  • Dulormne, Maguy
    Author
  • Dufay, Benoît
    Author
  • Mira, Eeonore
    Author
  • Lequeue, GauthierUCLouvain
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  • Imbert, Daniel
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Abstract
Micro-tidal wetlands are subjected to strong seasonal rainfall variations that induce fluctuations in groundwater salinity. In Caribbean mangroves and swamp forests, top-soil salinity may fluctuate by 20 ‰ between wet and dry season. Moreover, climate change is expected to increase seasonal variation by decreasing the amount of rainfall during the dry season. Whereas the effects of salinity levels on the physiology of mangrove seedlings have been widely tested, little is known about the effect of seasonal variations on growth performances of mangrove and swamp forest trees. In this study, we monitored tree physiology responses to climatic seasonal variations on the 4 main tree species of coastal forested wetlands in Guadeloupe. Physiological leaf traits and percent loss of hydraulic conductivity have been monitored on 50 trees during a wet and a dry season in 5 study sites. In addition, variation in trunk circumference of 90 trees, water-table level and groundwater salinity were monitored monthly during 20 months. Decrease of water table and increase of salinity during the dry season were associated to a strong decrease in diameter increment for all species. Leaf water potentials, stomatal conductance and carbon assimilation decreased for all species during the dry season, A. germinans being the most resistant species. At the end of the dry season, all mangrove species reached high embolism levels, L. racemosa and A. germinans being respectively the most and the less sensitive species. These results suggest that stronger dry periods due to climate change may impact mangrove structure and species-specific composition, leading to a possible decline of L. racemosa abundance in Caribbean mangroves.
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Bompy, F., Dulormne, M., Dufay, B., Mira, E., Lequeue, G., de Girval, N., Virapin, V., & Imbert, D. (2013). Seasonality effect on physiology and Growth performances of Caribbean mangrove tree species. The 50th Anniversary Meeting Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS ), San José, Costa Rica. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/205665