Size-related auto-fragment production and carbohydrate storage in auto-fragment of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Myriophyllum spicatum</Emphasis> L. in response to sediment nutrient and plant density |
| |
Authors: | Dong Xie Dan Yu |
| |
Institution: | (1) The National Field Station of Freshwater Ecosystem of Liangzi Lake, College of Life Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, People’s Republic of China; |
| |
Abstract: | Size-related asexual reproduction of submersed macrophytes is still poorly understood. Here, we investigate how size-related
auto-fragmentation in Myriophyllum spicatum L. responds to sediment nutrients and plant density. An experiment was carried out with sediments containing two different
nutrient levels and with two levels of plant density. The results show that sediment nutrients and plant density brought about
a strong dependency of auto-fragment production and the amount of total non-structural carbohydrate (TNC) storage in auto-fragments
on individual plant size (total plant biomass). However, these two factors acted differently on size dependency. Sediment
nutrients positively affected auto-fragment production and the amount of TNC in auto-fragments of M. spicatum. High concentrations of sediment nutrients significantly increased these two traits in absolute value and the value relative
to plant size. Although the auto-fragment biomass and the amount of TNC in auto-fragments did not differ between density treatments
when plant size was considered, the absolute values of these two traits were much larger in the low plant density treatment
than in the high plant density treatment, which suggested an indirect negative effect of plant density on the auto-fragmentation
of M.
spicatum. In addition, higher percentages of large auto-fragments (>100 mg) were produced by plants that grew in nutrient poor sediment
and low plant density environment than plants in nutrient rich sediment and high plant density environment. These results
do not solely highlight a size-dependent effect, but also a size-independent effect of auto-fragment production and the amount
of TNC in auto-fragments of M. spicatum. Furthermore, such size-independent effects can be explained by the significant biomass partitioning differences and the
similar TNC-concentrations in auto-fragments under different environmental conditions. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|