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Growth and morphological responses of Scenedesmus obliquus to submerged macrophyte Egeria densa

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Abstract

Interspecific interaction are playing vital roles in shaping phytoplankton structure and affecting the food webs in freshwater ecosystems. However, the responses of green algae to allelochemically competition with submerged macrophytes were mainly focused on the growth, whereas, the algal morphology changes were usually ignored. In the present study, according to co-cultivation experimentation of submerged macrophyte Egeria densa and green alga Scenedesmus obliquus with gradient initial algal density, it was demonstrated that E. densa could allelochemically suppress the growth of S. obliquus, but the shading effects should also be considered when the algal density was low. In addition, small colonies of S. obliquus with large amount were induced in the presence of E. densa. The suppressing expression of photosynthesis-related genes LhcbM and PS II D1 might lead the reduction of cell division in S. obliquus. The small but not large colonies formation might be interpreted as the inhibitory cell division and promotion of polysaccharide by allelochemicals from E. densa. Owing to the ecological significance, much more emphasis should be placed on the morphological changes induced by interspecific competition. The results would be of great help in the prediction of phytoplankton composition and structure in freshwater ecosystems.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Young Backbone Teachers Project of Henan Province (No. 2020GGJS064), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31500380), the Scientific Fund of Henan Normal University (No. 2020QK02), the Major public welfare projects in Henan Province (No. 201300311300) and China Agriculture Research System (CARS-50).

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  1. College of Fisheries, Henan Normal University, Jianshe Road, Xinxiang, 453007, Henan, China

    Jing Dong, Dujuan Dai, Yue Yang, Feihu Wang, Yang Zhang, Man Zhang, Yunni Gao, Xiaofei Gao & Xuejun Li

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  1. Jing Dong
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Dong, J., Dai, D., Yang, Y. et al. Growth and morphological responses of Scenedesmus obliquus to submerged macrophyte Egeria densa. Aquat Ecol 57, 127–138 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10452-022-10001-x

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