Abstract
Submerged macrophytes play a structuring role in the shallow freshwater ecosystem by increasing the heterogeneous state in freshwaters. The macrophytes in genus Ottelia were featured for their broad leaves, which might consequently produce specialized functions that differed from other submerged species. To explore the potential ecological role of Ottelia, a field investigation was conducted on leaf traits in eight populations of Ottelia ranging from the southwestern Yunnan–Guizhou plateau to the southern Hainan island in China covering a distance of >1,700 km. The eight populations included all the extant Ottelia species and varieties in China except the well-documented O. alismoides. Carbon-related traits [bicarbonate usage, photosynthetic characteristics, capability of Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM)], pigment content and parameters of chlorophyll fluorescence, morphology and mass of the leaves were determined. The different populations showed distinct functional traits of mature leaves; O. acuminata var. songmingensis had the thickest and longest leaf with CaCO3 precipitation on the both sides of the leaf, and O. cordata showed putative CAM activity with the highest diel acidity changes 12.5 μequiv g-1 FW. Our results indicated an important role of Ottelia populations in carbon cycling as the dominant species in karst freshwaters in China.
Highlights
Submerged macrophytes are considered as one of the most important primary producers in shallow oligotrophic freshwaters and strongly affect the nutrient turnover for freshwater ecosystem (Wetzel, 1964; Epstein et al, 2012; Olsen et al, 2017)
There are only few recent studies related with functional traits, which have investigated the functional traits at the community level along water depth gradients in natural lakes (Fu et al, 2014, 2018; Liu and Wang, 2018)
Two or more liters of water samples were collected by a plastic tube sampler and separated into aliquot for the determination of total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), alkalinity (Alk), and phytoplankton chlorophyll a (PhyChla)
Summary
Submerged macrophytes are considered as one of the most important primary producers in shallow oligotrophic freshwaters and strongly affect the nutrient turnover for freshwater ecosystem (Wetzel, 1964; Epstein et al, 2012; Olsen et al, 2017). As a series of core properties describing the growth, survival and reproduction of plants, are useful tools to explore the ecological function of submerged macrophytes in freshwater systems (Grime, 1974). Most studies related with plant functional traits are focusing on terrestrial forest or grass (Kraft et al, 2008; Klimešová et al, 2016). There are only few recent studies related with functional traits, which have investigated the functional traits at the community level along water depth gradients in natural lakes (Fu et al, 2014, 2018; Liu and Wang, 2018)
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