Grant type: NSFC General Project
Principal Investigator: Lili Wei
Duration: 2016.01-2019.12
Loading of nitrogen and phosphorus to coastal waters have remarkably increased over the past several decades as a result of accelerated urbanization. Nutrient enrichment represents one of the greatest threats to the ecological functioning of coastal ecosystems, which require a profound understanding of the response of coastal wetland to nutrient enrichment. Wetlands act as natural filters of nonpoint source pollutants and play a significant role in regulating nutrient cycling of a watershed. Coastal wetland plants have adapted to nutrient-limited environments through the development of nutrient conservation strategies. By enhancing plant internal nutrient cycling and slowing down the decomposition of litter fall in sediment, plant nutrient conservation strategies cause the retention of nitrogen and phosphorus in wetland ecosystem. These processes are also contributed to improve water quality. But very little is known about what will be of these strategies and their consequences in the facing of nutrient enrichment. The project will build a new understanding of the response of slow-growing plant to nutrient enrichment through the study of the plasticity of plant nutrient conservation strategies. To assess species plasticity, a trait-based framework will be implied with emphasis on the plant economic spectrum and the relative distance plasticity index. The results of plasticity of plant traits will be incorporated into community structure to predict how coastal ecosystem reacts to future environmental changes. The expected results will inform biodiversity conservation for coastal wetlands and provide theoretical bases for management of coastal and estuarine ecosystems.