Tidal channel meanders serve as stepping-stones to facilitate cordgrass landward spread by creating invasion windows

Understanding the mechanisms by which geomorphic structures affect habitat invasibility by mediating various abiotic and biotic factors is essential for predicting whether these geomorphic structures may provide spatial windows of opportunity to facilitate range-expansion of invasive species in salt marshes. Many studies have linked geomorphic landscape features such as tidal channels to invasion by exotic plants, but the role of tidal channel meanders (i.e., convex and concave sides) in regulating the Spartina invasion remains unclear. Here, we examined the combined effects of tidal channel meander-mediated hydrodynamic variables, soil abiotic stresses and propagule pressure on the colonization of Spartina in the Yellow River Delta, China, by conducting field observations and experiments. The results showed that lower hydrodynamic disturbance, bed shear stress, and higher propagule pressure triggered by eddies due to the convex structure of channel meanders facilitated Spartina seedlin..., , This dataset includes the data obtained from the field survey and experiments to reproduce the analyses of the following paper: Ning et al. Tidal channel meanders serve as stepping-stones to facilitate cordgrass landward spread by creating invasion windows.Â