Ecological stoichiometric characteristics of Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) in leaf, root, stem, and soil in four wetland plants communities in Shengjin Lake, China

Abstract

Ecological stoichiometric should be incorporated into management and nutrient impacted 32 ecosystems dynamic to understand the status of ecosystems and ecological interaction. The present study 33 focused on ecological stoichiometric characteristics of different macrophyte plants soil, leave, stem and root 34 after the removal of seine fishing since 2000 from Shengjin Lake. For C, N and P analysis from leaves, stems, 35 roots and soil to explore their stoichiometric ratio and deriving environmental forces here four dominant plant 36 communities (Zizania caduciflora, Vallisineria natans, Trapa quadrispinosa and Carex schmidtii) were 37 collected. C, N, P and C: N: P ratio in leafs, stems, roots and soil among the plant communities vary and the 38 studied plant communities had significant effect on the measured variables. There was high C: N in 39 C.schmidtii soil (7.08±1.504) but not vary significantly (P >0.05), and N: P ratio measured high in V. natans 40 (13.7±4.05) and C: P in T.quadrispinosa soil (81.14±43.88) and showed significant variation (P<0.05) 41 respectively. High leaf C: N and N: P ratio was measured in C. schmidtii and V. natans respectively. 42Nevertheless, high leaf C: P ratio was measured in Z.caduciflora. From the three studied organs leafs C: N, 43 N: P ratio showed high values compared to root and stems. The correlation analysis result showed that, at 0-44 10cm depth ranges SOC correlated negatively with stem total phosphorus (STP) ,and RTN (P<0.05) but 45 positively strongly with LTP and LTN (P<0.01) respectively. Soil total nitrogen at 0-10cm strongly positively 46 correlated with LTP (P<0.01) and positively with RN: P and LTC (P<0.05). Soil basic properties such as 47 SMC.BD and pH positively correlated with soil ecological stoichiometric characteristics. Redundancy 48 analysis (RDA) result showed pH and available phosphorus were the potential determinant of soil 49 stoichiometry. 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 Keyword: Wetland plants, Ecological stoichiometry, Shengjin Lake, Environmental variables. 59 60 61 62 63 64 3 65 66 Introduction 67 Ecological stoichiometry is an important tool for studying ecological processes and functions (Shang B et 68 al., 2018). Besides, it uses to explore the dynamic balance of various elements and their interactions (Moorthi 69 S D et al., 2016) and limitation of plant growth (Chen et al., 2016). Carbon (C), Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus 88 community type (Shang et al., 2013) can determine these nutrients and in turn it can be used for the 89 accumulation and allocation of plant biomass (Lie and Li, 2016). Because of human interference (Sardans 90 and Penuelas, 2014), climate change, hydrological fluctuation, aquatic and offshore environment wetlands 91 have been greatly affected. This is posing great impacts on vegetation and ecosystems (Qin et al.2014). C: N 92 and N: P ratio can be used as effective indicators for the health conditions and growth status of plants (Vrede 93 et al., 2004; Hessen et al., 2007) and understating the life strategies of plants (Wu ...