Abstract
Zonation along a water level is the main spatial distribution characteristic of wetland plants. This is mainly because of the influences of hydrological conditions and interspecific competition, which finally narrow the fundamental niche of a species to its realized niche. In the present study, a controlled experiment was conducted in order to analyze the relationship between Carex lasiocarpa/Carex pseudocuraica and Glyceria spiculosa, in conditions of three competitive treatments at four water levels. The results showed that in no competition, C. lasiocarpa preferred low water levels, but this preference receded when competing with G. spiculosa. In contrast, C. pseudocuraica had greater preference for low water level when competing with G. spiculosa. The root/shoot ratios of the two Carex species decreased with increasing water levels, but they were almost unaffected by different competition treatments. With the increase in water level during full competition with G. spiculosa, the competitive ability of C. lasiocarpa showed an increasing trend, whereas a contrary trend was observed in C. pseudocuraica. Our results suggested the effects of water levels and their interactions with interspecific competition varied between the two Carex species and played an important role in determining spatial distribution patterns and potential community succession of wetland plants.
Highlights
The spatial distribution of wetland plants generally shows zonation along environmental gradients [1], which could mainly be attributed to the influences of hydrological and biotic factors [2,3,4,5]
Our results suggested that the physiological individual and the whole genetic individual of C. lasiocarpa use different trade-off strategies for surviving flooding stress
Our experiments indicated that the two Carex species generally exhibited similar survival strategies in response to the change in water levels in the absence of interspecific competition
Summary
The spatial distribution of wetland plants generally shows zonation along environmental gradients [1], which could mainly be attributed to the influences of hydrological and biotic factors [2,3,4,5]. Ellenberg [2] demonstrated that, when interactions with other plant species were prevented, all species had very similar hydrological optima, but in contrast, in the presence of interspecific interactions, optimal growth considerably shifted to different positions along the hydrological gradient. This finding was supported by the concept of niche presented by Hutchinson [10]. Lenssen et al [12] found that species distribution and richness along a freshwater flooding gradient were mainly dependent on hydrology in the frequently flooded zone, whereas at higher elevations, they were mainly dependent on plant interactions
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