The comparative seed ecology of marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) and pingao (Desmoschoenus spiralis)

摘要

Burrows (1994) wrote "seeds are beautiful and mysterious objects of great importance" and stated further that only "through careful observation and experiment can we get the seeds to reveal at least some of their secrets". The uniqueness of New Zealand's flora and the growing threats to those species by human activities makes an ecological understanding of seeds imperative to the conservation and restoration of our unique habitats. Marram grass (Ammophila arenaria) from Europe has been used as a dunestabilising species in New Zealand for more than 100 years, and has become a primary threat nationwide to the conservation values associated with the indigenous coastal dune landscape. There is little known about the seed ecology of marram grass in NewZealand conditions, or of its native counterpart pingao (Desmoschoenus spiralis). Seed dispersal studies of A. arenaria and D. spiralis have not been undertaken previously, leaving a gap in the ecological understanding of the invader and emergent plant paradigm in the New Zealand coastal dune context.