Understanding stoichiometric mechanisms of nutrient retention in wetland macrophytes: stoichiometric homeostasis along a nutrient gradient in a subtropical wetland

Julian, Paul; Gerber, Stefan; Bhomia, Rupesh K.; King, Jill; Osborne, Todd Z.; Wright, Alan L.

doi:10.1007/s00442-020-04722-9

Ecosystem ecology – original research
Published: 28 July 2020

Understanding stoichiometric mechanisms of nutrient retention in wetland macrophytes: stoichiometric homeostasis along a nutrient gradient in a subtropical wetland

Paul Julian II ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7617-1354¹,
Stefan Gerber²,
Rupesh K. Bhomia²,
Jill King³,
Todd Z. Osborne^2,4 &
Alan L. Wright¹

Oecologia volume 193, pages 969–980 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Nutrient homeostasis relates ambient stoichiometric conditions in an environment to the stoichiometry of living entities of that ecosystem. Plant nutrient sequestration in wetland ecosystems is a key process for downstream water quality. However, few studies have examined stoichiometric homeostasis of aquatic vegetation despite the importance of stoichiometry to plant nutrient uptake efficiency. This study investigated stoichiometric homeostasis of dominant emergent and submerged aquatic vegetation (EAV and SAV, respectively) within two treatment flow-ways of Everglades Stormwater Treatment Area 2 (STA-2). These flow-ways encompass a large gradient in plant nutrient availability. This study hypothesizes that wetland vegetation is homeostatic relative to ambient nutrients and consequently nutrient resorption does not vary along the nutrient gradient. We developed a framework to investigate how vegetation uptake and resorption of nutrients contribute separately to homeostasis. Overall, we determined that the wetland vegetation in this study was non-homeostatic with respect to differential uptake of nitrogen (N) versus phosphorus (P). In EAV, P resorption was relatively high and N resorption was moderate, and resorption efficiency did not vary significantly along the gradient. In separating the proportional contribution of resorption and uptake to the degree of homeostasis, resorption did not affect overall homeostatic status in EAV.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank SFWMD and UF Wetland Biogeochemistry Laboratory staff members for providing the data used in this analysis. We would also like to thank Mark Brenner, Sue Newman, Odi Villapando, Cassondra Armstrong, Tom James, Jim Elser, and the anonymous peer reviewer(s), Editor and Chief Joel Trexler and Handling Editor Bob Hall for their efforts and constructive review of this manuscript.

Funding

Financial support for sample collection and analysis was provided by the South Florida Water Management District (Contract #4600003031).

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Affiliations

Soil and Water Sciences Department, University of Florida, Ft. Pierce, FL, 34945, USA
Paul Julian II & Alan L. Wright
Soil and Water Sciences Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611, USA
Stefan Gerber, Rupesh K. Bhomia & Todd Z. Osborne
South Florida Water Management District, Water Quality Treatment Technologies, West Palm Beach, FL, 33406, USA
Jill King
Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, St Augustine, FL, 32080, USA
Todd Z. Osborne

Authors

Paul Julian II
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Stefan Gerber
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Rupesh K. Bhomia
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Jill King
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Todd Z. Osborne
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Alan L. Wright
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Contributions

PJ performed data analyses including necessary calculations and statistical analyses and wrote the manuscript. SG developed the expanded homeostasis framework, contributed to data interpretation and writing. RKB and TZO were involved with data collection and writing. ALW assisted with writing. JK was involved in data collection. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Paul Julian II.

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Communicated by Robert O. Hall.

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Julian, P., Gerber, S., Bhomia, R.K. et al. Understanding stoichiometric mechanisms of nutrient retention in wetland macrophytes: stoichiometric homeostasis along a nutrient gradient in a subtropical wetland. Oecologia 193, 969–980 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04722-9

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Received: 20 January 2020
Accepted: 23 July 2020
Published: 28 July 2020
Issue Date: August 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-020-04722-9

Keywords

Phosphorus
Everglades
Resorption
Sink strength
Stormwater treatment area