Impact of seasonal water-level fluctuations on autumn vegetation in Poyang Lake wetland, China

Abstract

Water level fluctuations (WLF) are natural patterns that are necessary for the survival of various plants, and WLF guarantee both the productivity and the biodiversity of wetlands. However, the underlying mechanisms of how changes in vegetation are linked to seasonal WLF remain unclear. Using vegetation and hydrological data from 1989 to 2009, we identified the key seasonal fluctuations and their impacts on vegetation in the Poyang Lake wetland by utilizing a tree-based hierarchical model. According to our results: 1) WLF in summer had significant impacts on both sedges and reeds. The severe summer floods promoted the expansion of sedges, while they inhibited the expansion of reeds; 2) WLF in autumn also greatly impacted sedges, while reeds were severely affected in spring. Specifically, we found that low water levels in autumn led to the expansion of sedges, and low water levels in spring led to the expansion of reeds. The results were well corroborated through comparisons of the vegetation distribution patterns over the last two decades (i.e., the 1990s and 2000s), which may shed light on corresponding water resource and wetland management.

Keywords

wetland / reeds / sedges / seasonal water-level fluctuations / classification and regression tree model

References

[1] Aligeti N (2012). Satellite-Based Assessment of Invasive Vegetation in Lake Chad Basin (LCB), West Africa. Dissertation for Ph.D. degree. Kansas City: University of Missouri

[2] Coops H, Beklioglu M, Crisman T L (2003). The role of water-level fluctuations in shallow lake ecosystems—workshop conclusions. Hydrobiologia, 506(1−3): 23–27

[3] Crisman T L, Alexandridis T K, Zalidis G C, Takavakoglou V (2014). Phragmites distribution relative to progressive water level decline in Lake Koronia, Greece. Ecohydrology, 7(5): 1403–1411

[4] Dai X (2015). Measuring Changes in Water Level Fluctuations and the Associated Effect on the Distribution of Typical Beach Wetland Vegetation Zones in Poyang Lake. Dissertation for Master degree. Nanjing: Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

[5] Dai X, Wan R R, Yang G S (2015). Non-stationary water-level fluctuation in China’s Poyang Lake and its interactions with Yangtze River. J Geogr Sci, 25(3): 274–288

[6] Dai X, Wan R R, Yang G S, Wang X L, Xu L G (2016). Responses of wetland vegetation in Poyang Lake, China to water-level fluctuation. Hydrobiologia, 773(1): 35–47

[7] Darwish K, Smith S E, Torab M, Monsef H, Hussein O (2017). Geomorphological changes along the Nile Delta coastline between 1945 and 2015 detected using satellite remote sensing and GIS. J Coast Res, 33(4): 786–794

[8] De’ath G, Fabricius K E (2000). Classification and regression trees: a powerful yet simple technique for ecological data analysis. Ecology, 81(11): 3178–3192

[9] DeBusk W F, Reddy K R (2003). Nutrient and hydrology effects on soil respiration in a northern Everglades marsh. J Environ Qual, 32(2): 702–710

[10] Dienst M, Schmieder K, Ostendorp W (2004). Effects of water level variations on the dynamics of the reed belts of Lake Constance. Limnologica- Ecology and Management of Inland Waters, 34(1–2): 29–36

[11] El-Vilaly M A S, Didan K, Marsh S E, Leeuwen W J D, Crimmins M A, Munoz A B (2018). Vegetation productivity responses to drought on tribal lands in the four corners region of the Southwest USA. Front Earth Sci, 12(1): 37–51

[12] Gafny S, Gasith A (1999). Spatially and temporally sporadic appearance of macrophytes in the littoral zone of Lake Kinneret, Israel: taking advantage of a window of opportunity. Aquat Bot, 62(4): 249–267

[13] Guan S, Lang Q, Zhang B (1987). Aquatic vegetation of Poyang Lake. Acta Hydrobiologica Sinica, 11: 9–21

[14] Guo Y, Shelton M G, Lockhart B R (1998). Effects of flood duration and season on germination of black, cherry bark, northern red, and water oak acorns. New For, 15(1): 69–76

[15] Hofmann H, Lorke A, Peeters F (2008). Temporal scales of water-level fluctuations in lakes and their ecological implications. Hydrobiologia, 613(1): 85–96

[16] Humanes A, Fink A, Willis B L, Fabricius K E, de Beer D, Negri A P (2017). Effects of suspended sediments and nutrient enrichment on juvenile corals. Mar Pollut Bull, 125(1–2): 166–175

[17] Jabłońska E, Pawlikowski P, Jarzombkowski F, Chormański J, Okruszko T, Kłosowski S (2011). Importance of water level dynamics for vegetation patterns in a natural percolation mire (Rospuda fen, NE Poland). Hydrobiologia, 674(1): 105–117

[18] Lai X, Shankman D, Huber C, Yesou H, Huang Q, Jiang J (2014). Sand mining and increasing Poyang Lake’s discharge ability: a reassessment of causes for lake decline in China. J Hydrol (Amst), 519: 1698–1706

[19] Li F, Gao H, Zhu L L, Xie Y H, Yang G S, Hu C, Chen X S, Deng Z M (2017). Foliar nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometry of three wetland plants distributed along an elevation gradient in Dongting Lake, China. Sci Rep, 7(1): 2820

[20] Li F, Qin X, Xie Y, Chen X, Hu J, Liu Y, Hou Z (2013). Physiological mechanisms for plant distribution pattern: responses to flooding and drought in three wetland plants from Dongting Lake, China. Limnology, 14(1): 71–76

[21] Li Y, Zhang Q, Yao J (2015). Investigation of residence and travel times in a large floodplain lake with complex lake-river interactions: Poyang Lake (China). Water, 7(5): 1991–2012

[22] Liu Q, Yan B, Ge G (2012). Theory and Practice of Ecological Restoration for Poyang Lake Wetland. Beijing: Science Press

[23] Liu X, Ye J (2000). Jiangxi Wetlands. Beijing: Chinese Forestry Publishing Company

[24] Liu Y B, Wu G P, Zhao X S (2013). Recent declines in China’s largest freshwater lake: trend or regime shift? Environ Res Lett, 8(1): 014010

[25] Luo W B, Xie Y H, Chen X S, Li F, Qin X (2010). Competition and facilitation in three marsh plants in response to a water-level gradient. Wetlands, 30(3): 525–530

[26] Mei X, Dai Z, Du J, Chen J (2015). Linkage between Three Gorges Dam impacts and the dramatic recessions in China’s largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake. Sci Rep, 5(1): 18197

[27] Morton R A, Barras J A (2011). Hurricane Impacts on coastal wetlands a half-century record of storm-generated features from southern Louisiana. J Coast Res, 27(6A): 27–43

[28] O’Reilly C M, Sharma S, Gray D K, Hampton S E, Read J S, Rowley R J, Schneider P, Lenters J D, McIntyre P B, Kraemer B M, Weyhenmeyer G A, Straile D, Dong B, Adrian R, Allan M G, Anneville O, Arvola L, Austin J, Bailey J L, Baron J S, Brookes J D, de Eyto E, Dokulil M T, Hamilton D P, Havens K, Hetherington A L, Higgins S N, Hook S, Izmest’eva L R, Joehnk K D, Kangur K, Kasprzak P, Kumagai M, Kuusisto E, Leshkevich G, Livingstone D M, MacIntyre S, May L, Melack J M, Mueller-Navarra D C, Naumenko M, Noges P, Noges T, North R P, Plisnier P D, Rigosi A, Rimmer A, Rogora M, Rudstam L G, Rusak J A, Salmaso N, Samal N R, Schindler D E, Schladow S G, Schmid M, Schmidt S R, Silow E, Soylu M E, Teubner K, Verburg P, Voutilainen A, Watkinson A, Williamson C E, Zhang G Q (2015). Rapid and highly variable warming of lake surface waters around the globe. Geophys Res Lett, 42(24): 10773–10781

[29] Pan Y, Xie Y, Chen X, Li F (2012). Effects of flooding and sedimentation on the growth and physiology of two emergent macrophytes from Dongting Lake wetlands. Aquat Bot, 100: 35–40

[30] Pennings S C, Grant M B, Bertness M D (2005). Plant zonation in low-latitude salt marshes: disentangling the roles of flooding, salinity and competition. J Ecol, 93(1): 159–167

[31] Qian S S, Anderson C W (1999). Exploring factors controlling the variability of pesticide concentrations in the Willamette River Basin using tree-based models. Environ Sci Technol, 33(19): 3332–3340

[32] Sang H, Zhang J, Lin H, Zhai L (2014). Multi-Polarization ASAR backscattering from herbaceous wetlands in Poyang Lake region, China. Remote Sens, 6(5): 4621–4646

[33] Sankaran M, Hanan N P, Scholes R J, Ratnam J, Augustine D J, Cade B S, Gignoux J, Higgins S I, Le Roux X, Ludwig F, Ardo J, Banyikwa F, Bronn A, Bucini G, Caylor K K, Coughenour M B, Diouf A, Ekaya W, Feral C J, February E C, Frost P G H, Hiernaux P, Hrabar H, Metzger K L, Prins H H T, Ringrose S, Sea W, Tews J, Worden J, Zambatis N (2005). Determinants of woody cover in African savannas. Nature, 438(7069): 846–849

[34] Snedden G A, Steyer G D (2013). Predictive occurrence models for coastal wetland plant communities: delineating hydrologic response surfaces with multinomial logistic regression. Estuar Coast Shelf Sci, 118: 11–23

[35] Spence D N (1982). The zonation of plants in freshwater lakes. Adv Ecol Res, 12: 37–125

[36] Tan Z Q, Zhang Q, Li M F, Li Y L, Xu X L, Jiang J H (2016). A study of the relationship between wetland vegetation communities and water regimes using a combined remote sensing and hydraulic modeling approach. Hydrol Res, 47(S1): 278–292

[37] The Ramsar Convention (2017). The List of Wetlands of International Importance.

[38] Therneau T, Atkinson B, Ripley B (2017). Recursive Partitioning and Regression Trees.

[39] Wang L, Song C, Hu J (2009a). Responses of Carex lasiocarpa clonal reproduction to water regimes at different growth stages. Acta Ecol Sin, 29(5): 2231–2238

[40] Wang L, Song C, Hu J, Yang T (2008). Growth responses of below ground modules of Carex lasiocarpa to different water regimes and water experiences. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 19(10): 2194–2200 (in Chinese)

[41] Wang L, Song C, Hu J, Yang T (2009b). Growth responses of Carex lasiocarpa to different water regimes at different growing stages. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 18(1): 17–24 (in Chinese)

[42] Wang X, Fan Z, Cui L, Yan B, Tan H (2004). Wetland Ecosystem Assessment of Poyang Lake. Beijing: Science Press

[43] Weisner S B, Ekstam B (1993). Influence of germination time on juvenile performance of Phragmites australis on temporarily exposed bottoms-implications for the colonization of lake beds. Aquat Bot, 45(2–3): 107–118

[44] Weisner S B, Strand J A (1996). Rhizome architecture in Phragmites australis in relation to water depth: implications for within-plant oxygen transport distances. Folia Geobot Phytotaxon, 31(1): 91–97

[45] Wu G P, Liu Y B (2017). Assessment of the hydro-ecological impacts of the Three Gorges Dam on China’s largest freshwater lake. Remote Sens, 9(10): 1069

[46] Wu Q, Rao B, Zhu L, Xing R, Hu Q (2012). Seasonal variation in plant biomass of Carex cinerascens and its carbon fixation assessment in a typical Poyang Lake marshland. Resources and Environment in the Yangtze Basin, 21(2): 215–219 (in Chinese)

[47] Xie T, Yang Z (2009). Effects of water stress on photosynthetic parameters of Phragmites australis in estuarine wetland of Yellow River delta. Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology, 20(3): 562–568

[48] Xu X, Zhang Q, Tan Z, Li Y, Wang X (2015). Effects of water-table depth and soil moisture on plant biomass, diversity, and distribution at a seasonally flooded wetland of Poyang Lake, China. Chin Geogr Sci, 25(6): 739–756

[49] Ye C, Zhao X, Wu G, Wang X, Liu Y (2013). Vegetation biomass spatial-temporal variations and the influence of the water level in Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve. Journal of Lake Sciences, 25(5): 707–714

[50] You H L, Fan H X, Xu L G, Wu Y M, Wang X L, Liu L Z, Yao Z, Yan B Y (2017). Effects of water regime on spring wetland landscape evolution in Poyang Lake between 2000 and 2010. Water, 9(7): 467

[51] Zhang M, Ni L, Xu J, He L, Fu H, Liu Z (2013a). Annual dynamics of the wetland plants community in Poyang Lake in response to water-level variations. Research of Environmental Sciences, 26: 1057–1063

[52] Zhang Q, Liu Y, Yang G, Zhang Z (2011). Precipitation and hydrological variations and related associations with large-scale circulation in the Poyang Lake basin, China. Hydrol Processes, 25(5): 740–751

[53] Zhang Q, Ye X, Werner A D, Li Y, Yao J, Li X, Xu C (2014). An investigation of enhanced recessions in Poyang Lake: comparison of Yangtze River and local catchment impacts. J Hydrol (Amst), 517: 425–434

[54] Zhang Z, Chen X, Yang G, Wang Y (2013b). Influence of the Three Gorges Dam on streamflow for the Poyang Lake. International Conference on Earth and Environmental Science, 19−25

[55] Zhang Z X, Chen X, Xu C Y, Hong Y, Hardy J, Sun Z H (2015). Examining the influence of river–lake interaction on the drought and water resources in the Poyang Lake basin. J Hydrol (Amst), 522: 510–521

[56] Zhu H, Zhang B (1997). Poyang Lake. Hefei: Press of University of Science and Technology of China

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature