The low competitive ability of Canada's Atlantic coastal plain shoreline flora: Implications for conservation

Abstract

With over 22 nationally or globally significant Atlantic coastal plain taxa in Canada, there is a need for broadly applicable management strategies and the general models that make such strategies possible. Coastal plain species occur primarily in infertile areas and/or on shorelines exposed to wave wash or seasonal flooding. Experiments show that coastal plain species are restricted to such areas by the inability to compete with competitively superior species that occupy fertile, undisturbed areas. Coastal plain plants almost always co-occur with either isoetids or carnivorous species, two well-known stress-tolerant groups of plants, indicating that coastal plain species are also stress tolerators. The rarity of coastal plain species is a consequence of limited habitat with low competition intensity, so conservation strategies should emphasize the preservation of remaining habitat and the maintenance of existing levels of infertility, flooding and exposure.