Role of plant aeration in zonation of Zizania latifolia and Phragmites australis

Abstract The emergent plants Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud and Zizania latifolia (Griseb.) Stapf. are distributed along a gradient of increasing water depth, with P. australis restricted to shallow water and Z. latifolia to deeper water. The lower limits of the two vegetational zones were discussed from the view-point of oxygen supply from aerial shoots. The oxygen influx to the underground organs from aerial shoots is proportional to the gradient between oxygen concentrations in atmosphere and inside the basal stem (C). The proportional constant (Q), called here the ventilation coefficient, expresses the efficiency of the diffusion of oxygen. An attempt was made to measure Q and C. The values of Q for the two species in their dominant niches are higher in Z. latifolia than in P. australis, corresponding to the natural distribution with increasing depths of water. Q in Z. latifolia and P. australis first increased and then decreased. Corresponding to such changes of Q, the oxygen concentration inside the basal stem (C) fell to low values for Z. latifolia at the greatest water-depth. Since in Z. latifolia a low value of C in deeper waters was accompanied by a decline in standing crop of aerial shoots, it was concluded that oxygen is the limiting factor for the distribution of Z. latifolia in the deeper waters.

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