Foliar stable carbon isotope ratios of Phragmites australis and the relevant environmental factors in marsh wetlands in Tianjin

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2015.0101

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Phragmites australis marshes in Tianjin play an important role in ecosystem functioning. Wetlands of Tianjin municipality have been suffering from serious nitrogen loading, salinization and water shortage. The foliar stable carbon isotope ratio (δ¹³C) is a good parameter which records environmental change information associated with the plant growth process, and reflects physiological and ecological responses of plants to environment changes. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of environment stress on the leaf δ¹³C of P. australis in marsh wetlands in Tianjin municipality.Methods This study was conducted in Qilihai, Beidagang, and Dahuangpu marsh wetlands. We investigated the foliar δ¹³C of P. australis and sediment properties, and evaluated the relationships between the foliar δ¹³C and sediment environmental factors. Important findings 1) Foliar δ¹³C ranged from -26.3‰ to -23.6‰, with an average value of -25.8‰. 2) Sediment water and nitrogen status were the important factors affecting reed foliar δ¹³C. Foliar δ¹³C was negatively correlated to sediment relative water content, and positively correlated to sediment total nitrogen and available nitrogen content. In contrast, foliar δ¹³C was not significantly correlated to sediment salinity and phosphorus content. 3) Leaf δ¹³C were significantly positively correlated with leaf nitrogen content, and negatively correlated with leaf carbon and nitrogen ratio across all site. However, these relationships were not detected due to the wetland drainage at Qilihai site in August. Wetland drainage changed the plant water and nitrogen balance, and further affected water and nitrogen utilization strategies of P. australis. Moreover, wetland drainage had stronger effects on these processes than nitrogen loading and salinization.

Key words: stable carbon isotope ratio, nitrogen, salinity, wetland drainage, Phragmites australis

CHEN Qing,WANG Yi-Dong,GUO Chang-Cheng,WANG Zhong-Liang. Foliar stable carbon isotope ratios of Phragmites australis and the relevant environmental factors in marsh wetlands in Tianjin[J]. Chin J Plan Ecolo, 2015, 39(11): 1044-1052.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2015.0101

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2015/V39/I11/1044

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Distribution of wetland natural reserves in Tianjin.

Table 1 Sediment basic properties in 0-25 cm soil layers in three marsh wetlands in Tianjin in August (mean ± SE)

	七里海 Qilihai	北大港 Beidagang	大黄堡 Dahuangpu
pH值 pH value	8.79 ± 0.06^a	8.91 ± 0.03^a	8.55 ± 0.04^b
盐度 Salinity (g·kg^-1)	6.36 ± 0.38^a	4.24 ± 0.06^b	2.76 ± 0.17^c
电导率 Electrical conductivity (ms·cm^-1)	2.38 ± 0.14^a	1.59 ± 0.02^b	1.02 ± 0.07^c
相对含水量 Relative soil moisture (%)	69.90 ± 2.25^b	100.00 ± 0.00^a	100.00 ± 0.00^a

Table 2 Leaf stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C), leaf C, N content and C and N ratio of Phragmites australis in three marsh wetlands in Tianjin (mean ± SE)

时间 Time	样地 Site	δ¹³C (‰)	碳氮比 C and N ratio	氮含量 N content (%)	碳含量 C content (%)
5月	七里海 Qilihai	-25.26 ± 0.12^b	11.71 ± 0.16^b	3.99 ± 0.05^a	46.73 ± 0.22^a
May	北大港 Beidagang	-26.03 ± 0.13^c	13.44 ± 0.40^a	3.41 ± 0.12^b	45.61 ± 0.26^b
	大黄堡 Dahuangpu	-24.15 ± 0.22^a	11.64 ± 0.37^b	4.05 ± 0.13^a	46.94 ± 0.08^a
8月	七里海 Qilihai	-25.43 ± 0.12^a	23.90 ± 1.06^a	2.00 ± 0.09^b	47.42 ± 0.34^a
August	北大港 Beidagang	-26.17 ± 0.07^c	22.54 ± 0.36^a	2.06 ± 0.04^b	46.43 ± 0.12^b
	大黄堡 Dahuangpu	-25.79 ± 0.12^b	18.17 ± 0.41^b	2.59 ± 0.06^a	47.01 ± 0.18^ab

Fig. 2 Relationships between foliar stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) of Phragmites australis and sediment relative water content (A), salinity (B), available N (C) and total N (D) in marsh wetlands in Tianjin in August. BDG, Beidagang marsh wetlands; DHP, Dahuangpu marsh wetlands; QLH, Qilihai marsh wetlands. Correlation results were presented in Table 3 (n = 15).

Table 3 Simple and partial correlation analyses of foliar stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) of Phragmites australis and sediment characters in marsh wetlands in Tianjin in August

		相对含水量 Relative soil moisture	盐度 Salinity	有效氮 Available N	总氮 Total N	速效磷 Available P	总磷 Total P
简单相关分析	r	-0.719^**	0.501	0.798^***	0.745^***	0.655^**	0.643^**
Simple correlation	Sig.	0.003	0.057	0.000	0.001	0.008	0.010
偏相关分析	r	-0.599^*	-0.507	0.646^*	0.626^*	0.264	0.118
Partial correlation	Sig.	0.030	0.077	0.017	0.022	0.383	0.700

Fig. 3 Relationships between leaf stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) and leaf N content, leaf C and N ratio of Phragmites australis in marsh wetlands in Tianjin. BDG, Beidagang marsh wetlands; DHP, Dahuangpu marsh wetlands; QLH, Qilihai marsh wetlands. The solid symbols indicated data points from May, and the hollow ones indicated data points from August. A, the relationship between leaf δ13C and N content, May: R2 = 0.379, p = 0.009; August: after removing the data points at QLH, then R2 = 0.628, p = 0.002. B, the relationship between leaf δ13C and C and N ratio, May: R2 = 0.329, p = 0.015; August: after removing the data points at QLH, then R2 = 0.611, p = 0.003.

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