The Effects of Burial by Sand on Ammophila Breviligulata

(1) During the summers of 1980 and 1981 part of an established population of Ammophila breviligulata growing along the Lake Huron shoreline was subjected to varying levels of artificial burial by sand. (2) As the burial depth was increased the number of emerging shoots as well as the above-ground biomass per unit area decreased. The dry weight per shoot increased with increasing burial depth only during 1980. (3) The plants emerged from a maximum depth of about 100-120 cm of sand. This emergence was primarily by elongation of stem internodes. However, there was an increase in the number of nodes on shoots emerging from )60 cm of sand. Stem elongation brought the apical meristem to about 6-15 cm below the sand surface. Then the leaves grew upwards until they emerged from the sand surface. (4) After emergence, the longest shoots were equally high regardless of depth of burial.