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Sphagnum spore banks in two montane peatlands at different elevations

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Abstract

Spore production of bryophytes is common in subalpine ecosystems, but how spore banks of bryophytes vary with elevations is unknown. We used peat cores from two Sphagnum dominated peatlands, a low- (780 m a.s.l.) and a high-elevation (1480 m a.s.l.) site to test the hypotheses that spore concentration, accumulation rate, germinability and longevity are lower at a high-elevation peatland than those at lower elevation due to the assumed climatic limitations at high elevation. Along the cores, Sphagnum spores were extracted, burial time of spores was dated and spore germinability was tested layer by layer. Sphagnum spore concentration, accumulation rate and germinability were greater at the high-elevation peatland than at the low-elevation site. Both peatlands had long-term persistent Sphagnum spore banks with a predicted longevity (the burial time when 1% spores are viable) of c. 390 and 140 years for the low- and high-elevation sites, respectively. Our study suggests that Sphagnum, the ecological engineer of peatlands, by regulating spore production and longevity can maintain relatively constant spore banks which may be of great importance in population regeneration and persistence in a changing world.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the National Key Research and Development Project (Grant Nos. 2016YFA0602301 and 2016YFC0500407), the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41871046 and 41471043), Jilin Provincial Science and Technology Development Project (Grant No. 20190101025JH) and Jilin Provincial Field Observation Station of Changbai Mountain Wetland Ecology (Grant No. 20190901001JC). We thank dr. Hong-Kai Li for his help in peat dating, Jun-Xiao Ma for his contribution in water chemistry analysis and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Geographical Processes and Ecological Security in Changbai Mountains, Ministry of Education, School of Geographical Sciences, Northeast Normal University, Renmin 5268, Changchun, 130024, China

    Ling-Zhi Wang, Zhao-Jun Bu, Mingming Zhang, Xu Chen, Yun-He Yang & Wen-Jing Liu

  2. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Vegetation Restoration, Institute for Peat and Mire Research, Northeast Normal University, Renmin 5268, Changchun, 130024, China

    Ling-Zhi Wang, Lu Feng, Zhao-Jun Bu, Sebastian Sundberg, Mingming Zhang, Xu Chen, Yun-He Yang & Wen-Jing Liu

  3. Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory for Wetland Ecological Processes and Environmental Change in the Changbai Mountains, Renmin 5268, Changchun, 130024, China

    Ling-Zhi Wang, Zhao-Jun Bu, Mingming Zhang, Xu Chen, Yun-He Yang & Wen-Jing Liu

  4. Shandong Key Laboratory of Eco-Environmental Science for the Yellow River Delta, Binzhou University, 5th Huanghe 391, Binzhou, 256603, China

    Lu Feng

  5. Evolutionary Biology Centre, Department of Plant Ecology and Evolution, Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18D, Uppsala, 752 36, Sweden

    Sebastian Sundberg

  6. Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7007, Uppsala, 750 07, Sweden

    Sebastian Sundberg

  7. Qiannan Normal University for Nationalities, Doupengshan 5, Duyun, 558000, China

    Xiao-Ya Yu

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  1. Ling-Zhi Wang
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Correspondence to Zhao-Jun Bu.

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Wang, LZ., Feng, L., Bu, ZJ. et al. Sphagnum spore banks in two montane peatlands at different elevations. Wetlands Ecol Manage 28, 825–835 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-020-09752-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-020-09752-x

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