Impacts of sediment type on the performance and composition of submerged macrophyte communities

Abstract

To restore deteriorated lake ecosystems, it is important to identify environmental factors that influence submerged macrophyte communities. While sediment is a critical environmental factor for submerged macrophytes and many studies have examined effects of sediment type on the growth of individual submerged macrophytes, very few have tested how sediment type affects the growth and species composition of submerged macrophyte communities. We constructed submerged macrophyte communities containing four co-occurring submerged macrophytes (Hydrilla verticillata, Myriophyllum spicatum, Ceratophyllum demersum and Chara fragilis) and subjected them to three sediment treatments, i.e., clay, a mixture of clay and quartz sand at a volume ratio of 1:1 and a mixture at a volume ratio of 1:4. Compared to the clay, the 1:1 mixture treatment greatly increased overall biomass, number of shoot nodes and shoot length of the community, but decreased its diversity. This was because it substantially promoted the growth of H. verticillata within the community, making it the most abundant species in the mixture sediment, but decreased that of M. spicatum and C. demersum. The sediment type had no significant effects on the growth of C. fragilis. As a primary nutrient source for plant growth, sediment type can have differential effects on various submerged macrophyte species and 1:1 mixture treatment could enhance the performance of the communities, increasing the overall biomass, number of shoot nodes and shoot length by 39.03%, 150.13% and 9.94%, respectively, compared to the clay treatment. Thus, measures should be taken to mediate the sediment condition to restore submerged macrophyte communities with different dominant species.