Effects of water turbulence on plant, sediment and water quality in reed (Phragmites australis) community

Abstract

Atapaththu K.S.S., Asaeda T., Yamamuro M., Kamiya H.: Effects of water turbulence on plant, sediment and water quality in reed (Phragmites australis) community. Ekológia (Bratislava), Vol. 36, No. 1, p. 1-9, 2017. Even though the interaction between water movements and aquatic plant is crucial for the aquatic ecosystem management, the importance of water turbulence in this regard is not well documented. To add to our knowledge on the interaction between aquatic plant communities and water turbulence, this study examined turbulence, plant, sediment and water quality at the reed community (Phragmites australis) in the Lake Shinji, Japan. Observations were conducted along transects perpendicular to the shoreline. For each transect, reed communities were observed at land ward side, centre, water ward and the outside of the reed community. An elevated level of turbulence was observed outside compared to inside reed community, where the magnitude of turbulence decreased with distance into the community interior. A significant positive correlation was observed for turbulence and surface-dissolved oxygen where the latter was negatively correlated to reed density. Sediment composition was affected by water turbulence where the content of coarse particles positively correlated to turbulence. Accumulation of organic matter in anoxic sediments together with fine particles was observed under low turbulence. Our findings can offer insight into understanding the interactions between turbulence and aquatic plant communities.

Seasonal Changes in the Content of Photosynthetic Pigments of Dominant Macrophytes in the Bardača Fishpond Area

“…Aquatic macrophytes beside algae represent the most important primary producers of freshwater ecosystems and play a significant role in the structure and functioning thereof (Lukina, Smirnova, 1988;Ronzhina et al, 2004;Chambers et al, 2008;Nikolić et al, 2009;Dar et al, 2013;Horvatić et al, 2013;Atapaththu et al, 2017), while contributing to the natural process of self-purification of In this paper, changes in the content of photosynthetic pigments during the vegetation season, as well as the differences in the content of pigments between emerged, submerged and floating plants, were monitored. Also, the correlation between the content of photosynthetic pigments and the physical and chemical parameters of water (water temperature, transparency, electrical conductivity, oxygen, saturation, pH) was made, as well as in relation to the concentrations of nutrients in water (ammonium, nitrate, nitrite nitrogen and orthophosphates) in order to determine the degree of their interconnectedness.…”

Slope and soil nutrients can explain the distribution of Phragmites australis and Phragmites japonica in riparian wetlands

“…The magnitude of turbulence is generally weak in downstream areas. Thus, there are more fine particles in the sediment where P. australis communities are observed more frequently (Atapaththu, Asaeda, Yamamuro, & Kamiya, ). Bigger particles existing in upstream soil rather than downstream soil contain less water or nutrients (Shin, Im, Ryu, & Um, ).…”

Tidal flats of recent origin: distribution and sedimentological characterization in the estuarine Cruces River wetland, Chile

“…The spatio-temporal variability of ORP conditions is coupled to the contents of mud and total organic matter in the sediments (i.e., total organic matter; Madsen et al, 2001;Atapaththu et al, 2017). In turn, it might be associated with the seasonal climatic variability indicated by slightly positive values in April vs. December 2016.…”