Sea level rise is expected to push saline waters into previously fresher regions of estuaries,
and higher salinities may expose oligohaline marshes to invertebrate herbivores typically
constrained by salinity. The smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora (syn. Sporobolus
alterniflorus), can defend itself against herbivores in polyhaline marshes, however it is not
known if S. alterniflora's defense varies along the mesohaline to oligohaline marsh gradient
in estuaries. I found that S. alterniflora from a mesohaline marsh is better defended than …