Effect of nutrient limitation (phosphorus limitation) on the floristic diversity in an undisturbed wetland.

Several factors determine the realized species pool in a wet meadow system. Hydrology partly influences the plant-available nutrients, directly by controlling the supply through ground and flooding water,¿ and indirectly by the groundwater level, controlling the soil moisture content and thus the redox potentiaal which determines the available nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) forms.The amount of available nutrients is also determined by the management type. Mowing, with subsequent removal of the harvested biomass, results in nutrient removal while fertilization causes an increase in nutrient availability. The plant strategy determines how plants deal with the quantity of available nutrients. Several grass and sedge species for example own the possibility to form tussocks, a growth form which allows them to store a vast amount of nutrients. High biomass production often results in strong competition for light, outcompeting certain species. Several plant strategies and plant traits such as the above mentioned tussock strategy allow species to deal with the competition for light and nutrients imposed by surrounding species.The realized species pool gets determined on the one hand by the potential species pool, in other words the total number of species that would be present in absence of stress, competition or disturbance and on the other by abiotic factors such as anoxia and by biotic interactions such as competition. These processes will influence the various life stages (seed, seedling, adult plant) of a plant differently.

Keywords:WETLANDS, PHOSPHORUS

Disciplines:Geology, Physical geography and environmental geoscience, Plant biology, Aquatic sciences, challenges and pollution