Journal of Ecology and Rural Environment ›› 2016, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (1): 60-67.doi: 10.11934/j.issn.1673-4831.2016.01.011

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Productivity and N and P Nutrition of the Phragmites australis Community in Typical Wetlands in Tianjin and Their Relationships With Environmental Factors

CHEN Qing1, LIU Dan2, MA Cheng-cang2, WANG Zhong-liang1   

  1. 1. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China;
    2. College of Life Sciences, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China
  • Received:2015-06-02 Online:2016-01-25 Published:2016-01-27

Abstract:

The reed(Phragmites australis) wetlands in Tianjin region, generally being important staging areas for east Asian-Australian migratory shorebird, have some important ecological functions. In recent decades, due to rapid urbanization and population growth of the region, the surface waterbodies of Tianjin have been faced with problems like severe nitrogen(N) pollution and salinization. Based on investigation of aboveground biomass, plant morphology, plant nitrogen(N) and phosphorus(P) nutrition in Qilihai(QLH), Beidagang(BDG) and Dahuangpu(DHP) reed wetlands, their relationships with environment factors, like N and P nutrients and salinity were explored. Results show that(1) the biomass of reeds in the wetlands varied in the range of 978-1263 g·m-2, but not so significantly in aboveground biomass with sediment salinity and nitrogen content;(2) during the season(August) when the reeds peaked in biomass, the reeds in BDG was much lower than those in QLH and DHP in N content and N storage of P. australis, and the reeds in BDG were 12.48 in N:P ratio in leaf, indicating N was the limiting factor to plant growth, while the reeds in QLH and DHP were 14.89 and 15.72, respectively, indicating both N and P were limiting factors; and(3) the current environmental stresses significantly affected N and P nutrition of the reed shoots, like the increasing salinity of the sediment mud that lowered N and P content in the leaves of P. australis and the increasing N content in the sediment mud that linearly increased N content in the stems of P. australis; however, P content in the leaves and stems did not change much with any increase in P content in sediment mud. Although the surface water bodies of Tianjin are seriously polluted with N, and N rather than P is the major limiting factor to reed growth in the wetlands, the reed wetlands in the region still have some potential capacity for dissimilating environmental N pollutant

Key words: salinity, nitrogen, phosphorus, wetland, Phragmites australis, aboveground biomass

CLC Number: