The role of ammonium nitrogen in the distribution of two species ofElodea

Abiotic and biotic correlates of the occurrence, extent and cover of invasive aquatic Elodea nuttallii

Biological invasions, especially invasive alien aquatic plants, are a major and growing ecological and socioeconomic problem worldwide. Freshwater systems are particularly vulnerable to invasion, where impacts of invasive alien species can damage ecological structure and function. Identifying abiotic and biotic factors that mediate successful invasions is a management priority. Our aim was to determine the environmental correlates of Elodea nuttallii; a globally significant invasive aquatic species. Elodea nuttallii presence/absence (occurrence), extent (patch area) and percentage cover (density) was visually assessed from a boat throughout Lough Erne (approximately 144 km2), County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland during the active summer growth season (July-September). In addition, substrate type and zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha occurrence was recorded. Fourteen water chemistry variables were collected monthly from 12 recording stations throughout the lake during the 9 years before the survey to spatially interpolate values and establish temporal trajectories in their change. Shoreline land use was derived from CORINE land cover maps. Environmental associations between E. nuttallii, substrate, D. polymorpha, water chemistry and land use were assessed. Elodea nuttallii occurrence was positively associated with water conductivity, alkalinity, suspended solids, phosphorus (both total and soluble) and chlorophyll-a concentrations, but negatively associated with pH and total oxidised nitrogen. E. nuttallii patch extent and proportional cover were positively associated, to varying degrees, with the presence of D. polymorpha, biological oxygen demand, water clarity and soft substrate, but negatively associated with urban development and ammonium. Elodea nuttallii displayed high levels of phenotypic plasticity in response to environmental variation, allowing it to adapt to a wide range of conditions and potentially gain competitive advantage over native or other invasive macrophytes.It is evident that multiple abiotic and biotic factors, including facilitation by co-occurring invasive dreissenid mussels, interact to influence the distribution and abundance of E. nuttallii. Thus, it is necessary to consider a more comprehensive environmental context when planning Elodea management strategies.

Reproductive Allocation in Three Macrophyte Species from Different Lakes with Variable Eutrophic Conditions

Reproductive allocation is a key process in the plant life cycle and aquatic plants exhibit great diversity in their reproductive systems. In the present study, we conduct a field investigation of three aquatic macrophytes: Stuckenia pectinata, Myriophyllum spicatum, and Potamogeton perfoliatus. Our results showed that widespread species, including S. pectinata and M. spicatum had greater plasticity in their allocation patterns in the form of increased sexual and asexual reproduction, and greater potential to set seeds and increase fitness in more eutrophic environments. P. perfoliatus also exhibited a capacity to adopt varied sexual reproductive strategies such as setting more offspring for the future, although only in clear conditions with low nutrient levels. Our results establish strategies and mechanisms of some species for tolerating and surviving in varied eutrophic lake conditions.

Aquatic macrophytes as bioindicators of carbon dioxide in groundwater fed rivers

Aquatic plants have been used as hydrological tracers in groundwater fed river systems. In nature, patterns in plant distribution have been attributed to ammonium (NH(4)) toxicity and phosphate (PO(4)) limitation, while some laboratory studies have focused on the role of the partial pressure of CO(2) (pCO(2)). The aims of this study were (i) to test whether plant distribution was more related to pCO(2) than NH(4) and PO(4) in nature, (ii) to develop and test the predictive power of new plant indices for pCO(2), NH(4) and PO(4), and (iii) to test the potential causality of the relationships using species eco-physiological traits. These tests were carried out with field data from the Rhine, Rhône and Danube river basins. Species composition was best related to the effect of pCO(2). The pCO(2) plant index was well calibrated (r(2)=0.73) and had the best predictive power (r(2)=0.47) of the three indices tested on independent datasets. The plant-pCO(2) relationship was supported by a biological mechanism: the ability of strictly submerged species of aquatic vascular plants to use HCO(3) under low pCO(2). This was not the whole story: the effects of pCO(2), NH(4) and PO(4) on plant distribution were partially confounded and interacted all together with temperature. However, neither NH(4) toxicity nor P limitation could be asserted using species eco-physiological traits. Moreover, the predictive power of the NH(4) and PO(4) plant indices was not as strong as pCO(2), at r(2)=0.24 and r(2)=0.27, respectively. Other potentially confounding variables such as spatial structure, biotic and physical factors were unlikely to confound the findings of this study.

Plant response strategies to stress and disturbance: the case of aquatic plants

The environmental factors controlling the establishment and development of plants in different ecosystems are of two types, stress and disturbance. The effects of stress or disturbance on aquatic systems are discussed in relation to the following questions: Can we predict the state and rate of recolonization after a disturbance? What are the strategies of recolonization developed by plants? How high is the resilience of a disturbed system? Two theories, the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, and the patch dynamics concept proposed to predict the composition, structure and dynamics of plants due to physical-chemical factors, were tested on two scales, that of communities and that of species, within two alluvial floodplains (the Rhine and the Rhone systems in France). With regard to the change of community on a larger scale (i.e. the whole network of the cut-off channels in the floodplain), large gradients of connection and disturbance induce high diversities within communities. Moreover, the highest flood disturbance induces a higher species richness and the occurrence of a particular species. The change in species is analysed using biological traits (morphological, reproductive or physiological). In the floodplain of the river Rhone, the response of plants corresponds well to theory, i.e. that habitats with an intermediate disturbance are richer than more or less disturbed habitats. So we can predict, through the biological traits, the functioning of a habitat. The last remaining question is that of the resilience of the system, which can be discussed in terms of species competition and the risk of biological invasion after an opening of habitat.