Research
| Title： | DISTRIBUTION AND N:P STOICHIOMETRY OF SUBMERGED AND FLOATING-LEAVED PLANTS IN THE LARGE EAST LAKE |
|---|---|
| First author： | Wei, Hua; Zuo, Jincheng; Guo, Weijie; Xu, Dong; Liu, Biyun; Wu, Zhenbin |
| Journal： | FRESENIUS ENVIRONMENTAL BULLETIN |
| Years： | 2018 |
| DOI： | |
| Abstract： | Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are the two most important essential elements limiting growth of primary producers. N:P ratios are widely used as indices of nutrient limitation in terrestrial ecosystems. To explore nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometry of submerged macrophytes and floating leaved plants in response to nutrient availability and evaluate significance of these responses to fitness of the plants in Yandong Lake and Yanxi Lake, we measured and evaluated changes in N and P concentrations, N:P ratios of submerged and floating-leaved plants. We first found that the aquatic macrophytes in Yandong Lake were abundant, but the community structure was simple with few species. Species diversity and community composition varied greatly in Yanxi Lake, but the macrophytes only distributed in the lake shore. Results showed that the TN concentrations, TP concentrations and N:P ratios in plants showed a different pattern in different species. However, variation of plant stoichiometry was relatively stable in different month. Based on our study, it suggested that submerged and floating-leaved plants in Yandong Lake and Yanxi Lake were primarily limited by nutrient availability and low light levels. Additionally, N:P stoichiometry can be a useful indicator of inter-specific variation in plant. |
