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Root-foraging behavior ensures the integrated growth of Vallisneria natans in heterogeneous sediments

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 24, pages 8108–8119 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

The present study was carried out to determine the efficacy of root foraging and the physiological response of Vallisnaria natans grown in heterogeneous sediments. V. natans was cultivated in two homogeneous and two heterogeneous sediments. The results suggested that V. natans grown in heterogeneous sediments presented a significantly higher root proportion in its total biomass, exhibited root foraging, and grew well, as indicated by a total biomass, ramet number, and plant height very close to those of plants grown in nutrient-rich clay sediment. Moreover, the more sensitive physiological response of the roots than the stems or the leaves to sediment nutrients suggested that root foraging occurred, and the approached values between the two heterogeneous sediments and the homogeneous clay sediment indicated that V. natans could satisfy its nutrient requirements via root foraging. The results may be useful in the recovery of macrophytes that remodel part (rather than all) of the substrate and can potentially improve habitats that are unsuitable for plant growth.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41230853 and 31200356). The authors thank the anonymous reviewer for his/her insightful suggestions.

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Affiliations

  1. Donghu Experimental Station of Lake Ecosystems, State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, 430072,, China

    Jianfeng Chen, Te Cao, Xiaolin Zhang, Haojie Su, Wasana de Silva, Leyi Ni & Ping Xie

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center of Recovery and Reconstruction of Degraded Ecosystem in Wanjiang City Belt, Anhui Province; College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, 241000,, China

    Jianfeng Chen, Haojie Su & Wasana de Silva

  3. Aquaculture station of Qiandongnan, Kaili, Guizhou Province,, 556000, China

    Xu Hu

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Te Cao, Xiaolin Zhang, Yilong Xi, Xinli Wen & Leyi Ni

  5. Academy of Environmental Planning of Shandong Province, Jinan, 250101,, China

    Tianshun Zhu

Authors
  1. Jianfeng Chen
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  2. Xu Hu
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  3. Te Cao
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  4. Xiaolin Zhang
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  5. Yilong Xi
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  6. Xinli Wen
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  7. Haojie Su
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  8. Wasana de Silva
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  9. Tianshun Zhu
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  10. Leyi Ni
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  11. Ping Xie
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaolin Zhang.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The first two authors contributed equally to this work.

Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Chen, J., Hu, X., Cao, T. et al. Root-foraging behavior ensures the integrated growth of Vallisneria natans in heterogeneous sediments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 8108–8119 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8473-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8473-z

Keywords

  • Free amino acids
  • Heterogeneous sediments
  • Phosphorus
  • Root foraging
  • Soluble carbohydrates
  • Submersed macrophytes
  • Vallisneria natans