Nitrogen availability affects the responses of marsh grass and sedge plants (Phragmites australis and Bolboschoenus planiculmis) to flooding time

Abstract

Flooding time and external nitrogen (N) input have been projected to be the main threats to marsh ecosystems in the scenario of more intense flooding events and N deposition. How flooding and N addition experienced at different growth stages interact in determining phenotypic change remains scarce. We established a controlled experiment (3 flooding time treatments x 5 N addition levels) using two herbaceous marsh species (Phragmites australis and Bolboschoenus planiculmis) to assess the responses of six key traits to environmental changes and the indication of plant performance. Early flooding reduced plant height and aboveground biomass of P. australis and below/aboveground biomass ratio of B. planiculmis and increased below/aboveground biomass ratio of P. australis and root biomass of B. planiculmis, whereas late flooding reduced root biomass of P. australis and ramet number and aboveground biomass of B. planiculmis. The combination of flooding and high N (16 and 32 g N m−2) exerted negative effects on ramet number of both plant species. The interaction of early flooding and low-medium N (8 and 16 g N m−2) inhibited clonal/belowground biomass ratio of both plant species. The combination of early flooding and low N (0, 4 and 8 g N m−2) promoted root biomass and below/aboveground biomass ratio of P. australis. Ramet number, plant height, and root biomass explained 80–90 % of aboveground biomass variation of both plant species, and the contribution of ramet number was greater than that of the other two traits. These results highlight that the influence of flooding time and external N input on the performance of marsh plants depends on species identity. Meanwhile, the ramet number-plant height-root biomass (RHR) strategy is supposed to be the adaptation strategy of wetland clonal plants to environmental changes, and clonal reproductive traits should be incorporated into vegetation dynamics models for marsh plants.