Productivity of invasive saltmarsh plant Spartina alterniflora along the coast of China: A meta-analysis

As an aggressive invasive saltmarsh plant in many places worldwide, Spartina alterniflora has a wide distribution range in latitude. Previous studies have explored latitudinal trends in S. alterniflora productivity in its native regions using meta-analysis, whereas to the best of our knowledge, that in China as its largest invaded regions have not been reported. In this study, we performed meta-analysis to explore latitudinal trends in productivity as measured by the end-of-season-live (EOSL) biomass of S. alterniflora along a broad latitudinal gradient from 24°N to 34°N on the coast of China. The results showed that in stark contrast to the linear decreasing trend found along the East Coast of North America as its native region, the latitudinal variation of the consolidated EOSL biomass along the coast of China exhibited an erratic “W”-shape and fell within the range of variation of the surveyed biomass reported in the literature. Additionally, the EOSL biomass was not correlated with climatic factors, such as the mean annual temperature and mean annual growing degree-days. The results of this study complement the ever-growing literature of S. alterniflora in China from a consolidated perspective and indicate that the response of S. alterniflora productivity to climate change could be more complicated in invaded regions.