By the end of the second growing season in a Rhode Island salt marsh, biomass-removal plots had greater species richness than controls at high elevations (4.6 vs 2.4), while at low elevations, biomass-removal plots had lower species richness than controls (0.9 vs 1.8). At middle elevations, species richness in removal plots was not very different from that in controls. The decline in species richness between the second and third growing seasons of the study, in removal plots at high elevations, was due to the fact that clonal perennials persisted and assumed dominance in removal plots, while annual species were extirpated. The results suggest that abiotic stress limited local species richness at low elevations in the marsh and positive interactions ameliorated this abiotic stress.
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