DISTRIBUTION, PLANT COMMUNITIES, AND ECOPHYSIOLOGY OF <i>CAKILE EDENTULA</i> (BRASSICACEAE), AN INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES IN PRIMORYE TERRITORY, RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Abstract

We studied the distribution and relationship with the indigenous supralitoral species of the North Atlantic species Cakile edentula (Bigelow) Hook. along the eastern coast of Primorye Territory. The C. edentula annual community usually occupies sandy beaches and outer ribs of front dunes free of vegetation. This species is also associated with different plant communities of beaches and dunes: S alsoletum komarovii , Elymo-Caricetum kobomugi , Elymo-Caricetum pumilae , Artemisio stellerianae-Leymetum mollis , and Leymo mollis-Glehnietum littoralis. Furthermore, it forms short-lived communities with Jacobea psedoarnica , Lathyrus japonicus , and Rosa rugosa in some parts of the coast, and also communities with Phragmites australis on salt marshes in the Tumen River estuarine zone. The functional traits of C. edentula leaves - volume of mesophyll cell, the number of chloroplasts per mm of leaf surface, the ratio of the total surface area cells to the unit leaf area (Ames/A), the total number of chloroplasts per cell - were investigated. The high values of the integral parameters of С. edentula leaf mesophyll are quite comparable to those of desert halophytes and 1.5-4 times are higher than the values reported for several of the Northeast Asian coastal species such as Artemisia stelleriana , Chorisis repens , Glehnia littoralis , Jacobea pseudoarnica , Lathyrus japonicus et al. According to its ecological strategy, C. edentula can be attributed to ruderal-stress-tolerant (RS) species. This study was based on standard phytosociological and physiological methods with examination of quantitative leaf anatomy.