1. Does Kosteletzkya pentacarpos Facilitate Upland Transition to High Salt Marsh?

2. Victoria Long Katie Spady

3. Kosteletzkya pentacarpos

4. “The pig of the plant world”…. but in the case of K. pentacarpos everything is usefu l * Seeds for oil for biodiesel fuel Seed pulp for animal feed Stems for fiber and animal bedding Flowers for bees and hummingbirds Perennial plant with deep roots that sequester large amounts of C and N Tolerates brackish soils Cultivated with traditional farm machinery Facilitates conversion to high marsh Highly competitive with Phragmites * Jack Gallagher, Univ Deleware

5. Long-term experiment in collaboration with TNC and University of Delaware to assess: Soil properties particularly C and N content in old field vs. K. pentacarpos planted plots Track vegetation communities Agricultural demonstration project Summer 2014 Questions Germination efficiency? Greenhouse Field Planting approach? Transplant Drilled Broadcast Soil saturation? Wet Dry Trans- planted Drilled Broad- cast Very wet soil 1 Wet soil11 Moderately wet soil 1 Moist soil111

6. Groundwater wells Cork surface water pipes

7. Variables Germination efficiency –Greenhouse –Field Survival Plant height Number of stems Number and timing of flowering Seed biomass

8. Seed Collection October 18, 2013 3 locations Seeds combined Legend Brownsville ABCRC Lab

9. Seeds planted March 14, 2014 81% germination

10. Plot A Planted June 10, 2014

11. Plot CPlot D

12. Broadcast Plots Planted July 2, 2014

16. Plot Type Total Number Capsules Drilled/very wet0 Drilled/wet4 Drilled/moderate0 Drilled/moist0 Broadcast/wet9 Broadcast/moist25

18. acknowledgements Virginia Coast Reserve LTER The Nature Conservancy National Science Foundation