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Sabkha Ecosystems pp 29–56Cite as

Physiological Ecology of Psammophytic and Halophytic Plant Species from Coastal Plains in Northern South America

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Part of the book series: Tasks for Vegetation Science ((TAVS,volume 48))

Abstract

Coastal plains of all tropical and subtropical latitudes are the habitat for a number of highly specialized plants able to establish in a range of sandy to clayey soils, submitted to periodical flooding from rainfall and tides, tolerant to large variations of salinity of soils interstitial water, withstanding coastal winds and sea-salt spray, and submitted to yearlong high solar irradiation and day temperatures. In northern South America semi-arid climates predominate in the southern Caribbean coasts from 10 to 15° N, an area that includes from the Goajira peninsula in Colombia to the Paria Peninsula in eastern Venezuela, and most southern Caribbean islands. The functional properties of mangroves (Laguncularia racemosa, Avicennia germinans) and associated halophytes (Conocarpus erectus, Sesuvium portulacastrum and Batis maritima) in seasonal arid coasts reveal the impact of highly seasonal distribution of rainfall affecting photosynthesis and leaf osmotic relations. The soil-plant nutritional relationships of a number of commonly occurring coastal species allowed the characterization of psammophytes and halophytes, based on the Na/K, and Ca/Mg ratios, and their preferential absorption of K over Na. Carbon 13 isotopic analyses showed the C4 species were well represented within the selected species (Sporobolus virginicus, Atriplex oestophora, Euphorbia mesembryathemifolia) but this photosynthetic metabolism is not the most common. Natural abundance of 15N indicates that sources of N are enriched in the heavier isotope suggesting that these coastal systems are limited by P but not by N. Mycorrhizal associations were common in most species but intensity of colonization was generally low. The occurrence of mycorrhizal associations in true halophytes remains to be assessed.

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Acknowledgements

To Mag. Grisel Velasquez of UniSIG at the Center of Ecology of the IVIC for producing the map of humidity provinces of northern Venezuela and Colombia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ecología, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas, Caracas, Venezuela

    Ernesto Medina

  2. International Institute of Tropical Forestry-US Forest Service, San Juan, Puerto Rico

    Ernesto Medina

Authors
  1. Ernesto Medina
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Correspondence to Ernesto Medina .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University Center for Sust. Development, Doha, Qatar

    M. Ajmal Khan

  2. UNESCO Liaison Office, UNECA Bldg New Bldg, 1st floor, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia

    Benno Boër

  3. Ege University, Izmir, Turkey

    Münir Ȫzturk

  4. Division of Ecological and Earth Science, UNESCO Headquarters, Natural Sci Div of Ecological & Earth Science, Paris Cedex 15, France

    Miguel Clüsener-Godt

  5. Institute of Sustainable Halophyte Utili, University of Karachi Inst.of Sustainable Halophyte Utili, Karachi, Pakistan

    Bilquees Gul

  6. Abteilung 3 - Ökologie, Universität Bielefeld Fakultät für Biologie, Bielefeld, Germany

    Siegmar-W. Breckle

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Medina, E. (2016). Physiological Ecology of Psammophytic and Halophytic Plant Species from Coastal Plains in Northern South America. In: Khan, M., Boër, B., Ȫzturk, M., Clüsener-Godt, M., Gul, B., Breckle, SW. (eds) Sabkha Ecosystems. Tasks for Vegetation Science, vol 48. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27093-7_3

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