BBAuthors: Qi, M.; Advisor: -; Participants: - (2017)
Spartinaspp. (cordgrasses) often dominates intertidal mudflats and/or low marshes. The land-ward invasion of these species was typically thought to be restrained by low tidal inundation frequenciesand interspecific competition. We noticed that the reported soil salinity levels in some salt marshes weremuch higher than those at the mean higher high water level, which might inhibit the landward invasion ofcordgrass. To test this possibility, we transplantedSpartina alternifloraacross an elevational gradient in aninvaded salt marsh in the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, where a salt accumulation zone(i.e., salt barren) was previously observed. We found thatS. alterniflorawas ... 
