Salmonberry stomatal density

Triangle Island on Canada’s Pacific coast is home to a large, globally
important seabird breeding colony. The shrub Salmonberry Rubus spectabilis
and tussock-forming Tufted Hairgrass Deschampsia cespitosa together form
~70% of vegetation coverage, and contain the vast majority (~90%) of
seabird nesting burrows. Salmonberry has in recent decades greatly
expanded its coverage, while that of Tufted Hairgrass has receded.
Seabirds prefer not to burrow under Salmonberry, making its ongoing
expansion a potential conservation issue. We investigated three hypotheses
proposed to explain Salmonberry’s expansion (climate change,
biopedturbation, nutrient input), using comparisons of stomatal density of
Salmonberry leaves sampled from Triangle Island, other seabird colonies,
other coastal locations, and from historical specimens in herbaria.
Stomatal density helps regulate photosynthetic gain and control water
loss, and responds to light, nutrient, carbon dioxide and water
availability. Differing patterns of stomatal density are expected among
sample locations depending on which of the hypothesized factors most
strongly affects Salmonberry’s performance. Our data are most consistent
with the nutrient input hypothesis. We discuss possible reasons why
Salmonberry has expanded so recently, even though Triangle has been a
large seabird colony for at least a century and likely much longer.