De Battisti, Davide and Ravaioli, Elisa and Comandini, Paolo and Airoldi, Laura and Barausse, Alberto (2026) Soft plant traits predict variation in underwater photosynthesis along an inundation gradient in salt marshes. [Data Collection]
Collection description
This excel file icludes data used in the manuscript titled "Soft plant traits predict variation in underwater photosynthesis along an inundation gradient in salt marshes". Authors: De Battisti D.1, Ravaioli E., Comandini P., Airoldi L., A. Barausse A central goal in trait-based ecology is to develop predictive models of community assembly along environmental gradients. However, progress is limited because relationships between traits and environmental factors remain poorly demonstrated in many ecosystems. Here, we address this gap in salt marshes by testing whether easily measurable (i.e., soft) plant traits can predict variation in underwater photosynthesis, a key functional (i.e., hard) trait that directly determines plant performance under inundation. We quantified underwater photosynthesis in dominant species from contrasting marsh zones along an inundation gradient of the Venice Lagoon－a recognized biodiversity hotspot in the Mediterranean Sea. Photosynthesis was measured based on oxygen fluxes under controlled laboratory conditions and related to leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, and plant height. All species consumed oxygen underwater, but some exhibited reduced consumption under light, indicating that underwater photosynthesis partially offset respiration. This ability was not confined just to pioneer-low marsh species and, while unrelated to leaf area and specific leaf area, was negatively correlated with leaf dry matter content and plant height. Our results confirm that underwater photosynthesis occurs in salt marsh plants but suggest that species adopt different strategies to cope with inundation. Smaller species (e.g., Salicornia veneta) rely on resistance via underwater photosynthesis, whereas taller species (e.g., Spartina maritima) adopt an escape strategy, maintaining contact with the atmosphere. Overall, soft traits can help predict variation in underwater photosynthesis, a hard trait underlying species responses to inundation, thereby improving mechanistic models of community assembly and biogeochemical processes in salt marshes.
| DOI: |  10.25430/researchdata.cab.unipd.it.00001771 |
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| Keywords: | Coastal wetlands, halophytes, oxygen production and respiration, plant functional traits, plant communities, salt marsh zonation, underwater photosynthesis. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Subjects: | Life Sciences > Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology: Population, community and ecosystem ecology, evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, microbial ecology > Ecosystem and community ecology, macroecology Life Sciences > Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology: Population, community and ecosystem ecology, evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, microbial ecology > Marine biology and ecology Life Sciences > Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology: Population, community and ecosystem ecology, evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, microbial ecology > Biodiversity, conservation biology, conservation genetics |
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| Department: | Departments > Dipartimento di Biologia (DiBio) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Depositing User: | Davide De Battisti | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 13 Mar 2026 08:44 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Last Modified: | 13 Mar 2026 08:44 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Type of data: | Database | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Research funder: | PON “Ricerca e Innovazione” 2014-2020, Azione IV.6 “Contratti di ricerca su tematiche Green” DM 1062 del 10/08/2021. 19-G-12540-1, REST-COAST, which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Innovation Action under grant agreement No. 101037097, NBFC - National Biodiversity Future Center (CN00000033), funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 Investment 1.4 - Call for tender No. 3138 of 16 December 2021, rectified by Decree n.3175 of 18 December 2021 of | ||||||||||||||||||
| Research project title: | NATSEA, Rest-Coast, National Biodiversity Future Center - NBFC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Grant number: | 19-G-12540-1 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Geographic coverage: | Venice Lagoon (Italy) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Data collection method: | Field sampling | ||||||||||||||||||
| Resource language: | English | ||||||||||||||||||
| Metadata language: | English | ||||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: | Research Data Unipd | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date: | 12 March 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright holders: | The Author | ||||||||||||||||||
| URI: | https://researchdata.cab.unipd.it/id/eprint/1771 |
orcid.org/0000-0001-7847-0414
