Publication
Title
The future of freshwater macrophytes in a changing world : dissolved organic carbon quantity and quality and its interactions with macrophytes
Author
Abstract
Freshwater ecosystems are confronted with the effects of climate change. One of the major changes is an increased concentration of aquatic carbon. Macrophytes are important in the aquatic carbon cycle and play as primary producers a crucial role in carbon storage in aquatic systems. However, macrophytes are affected by increasing carbon concentrations. The focus of this review lies on dissolved organic carbon (DOC), one of the most abundant forms of carbon in aquatic ecosystems which has many effects on macrophytes. DOC concentrations are rising; the exact cause of this increase is not known, although it is hypothesized that climate change is one of the drivers. The quality of DOC is also changing; for example, in urban areas DOC composition is different from the composition in natural watersheds, resulting in DOC that is more resistant to photo-degradation. Plants can benefit from DOC as it attenuates UV-B radiation, it binds potentially harmful heavy metals and provides CO2 as it breaks down. Yet plant growth can also be impaired under high DOC concentrations, especially by humic substances (HS). HS turn the water brown and attenuate light, which limits macrophyte photosynthesis at greater depths. This leads to lower macrophyte abundance and lower species diversity. HS form a wide class of chemicals with many different functional groups and they therefore have the ability to interfere with many biochemical processes that occur in freshwater organisms. Few studies have looked into the direct effects of HS on macrophytes, but there is evidence that HS can interfere with photosynthesis by entering macrophyte cells and causing damage. DOC can also affect reactivity of heavy metals, water and sediment chemistry. This indirectly affects macrophytes too, so they are exposed to multiple stressors that may have contradictive effects. Finally, macrophytes can affect DOC quality and quantity as they produce DOC themselves and provide a substrate to heterotrophic bacteria that degrade DOC. Because macrophytes take a key position in the aquatic ecosystem, it is essential to understand to what extent DOC quantity and quality in surface water are changing and how this will affect macrophyte growth and species diversity in the future.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Frontiers in plant science. - Place of publication unknown
Publication
Lausanne : Frontiers media sa , 2018
ISSN
1664-462X
DOI
10.3389/FPLS.2018.00629
Volume/pages
9 (2018) , 15 p.
Article Reference
629
ISI
000431945400001
Pubmed ID
29868084
Medium
E-only publicatie
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Macrophyte growth in a future world: the effect of Global Change on plant resilience to hydrodynamic forces, on litter quality and on decomposition.
Can the role of macrophytes on downstream C-N-P-Si fluxes in river basins be neglected? An integrated measurement, experimental and model approach quantifying direct and indirect vegetation effects.
Global Ecosystem Functioning and Interactions with Global Change.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 14.05.2018
Last edited 09.10.2023
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