Distribution Pattern and Structure of Vascular Plant Communities in Riparian Areas and Their Response to Soil Factors: A Case Study of Baoan Lake, Hubei Province, China

Abstract

The vascular plant community in a riparian area is the main substrate and vehicle of many ecological functions for the lakeshores of grass-type shallow lakes. However, there is still a lack of knowledge regarding the responses of vascular plants to soil factors of the habitat in riparian areas, which restricts the ecological adaptation management for riparian vegetation. In this work, a typical grass-type shallow lake (Baoan Lake) in the Yangtze Basin in Central China was taken as the study area. We describe the plant species distribution and community structure in riparian areas under two habitat types (lake and tributary) and their responses to soil factors. The results showed that (1) the soil chemical factors have a significant effect on the distribution and community structure of vascular plants, even though there was a significant interaction among three group factors of soil habitats; (2) compared with other factors, the total nitrogen (TN) and available phosphorus (AP) have the most significant correlations with the distribution of vascular plants; (3) the rate of soil nutrient sorption determines the distribution of vascular species, closely related to the biological characteristics of plants and the microbial enzymatic activity in soil; and (4) vascular plant diversity and the proportion of perennial plants were generally higher in the lakeshore areas than in the tributaries and showed a low-high-low “hump-shaped” species richness and diversity distribution. The Shannon-Wiener index value increased with the increasing soil-available phosphorus in the surface soil layer. Therefore, this study advanced our knowledge of the species distribution and diversity patterns of lakeshores and tributaries, providing scientific and theoretical guidance for the biodiversity conservation and sustainable ecosystem management of grass-type shallow lakes.