Universität zu Köln

Heidbuechel, Patrick, Sachs, Maria, Hamzehian, Nadia and Hussner, Andreas (2020). Go with the flow: Fragment retention patterns shape the vegetative dispersal of aquatic plants in lowland streams. Freshw. Biol., 65 (11). S. 1936 - 1950. HOBOKEN: WILEY. ISSN 1365-2427

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Abstract

The dispersal of aquatic plant propagules is highly facilitated in streams due to flow. As many aquatic plants predominantly spread through vegetative propagules, the specific retention and thus drift distance of dispersed plant fragments largely contribute to the rapid spread along the course of a stream. We determined fragment retention for four aquatic plant species (Elodea canadensis,Myriophyllum spicatum,Ceratophyllum demersum,Salvinia natans; representing four different common morpho-structural groups) in sections of small to medium-sized German streams with different levels of stream sinuosity. The number of fragments showed a logistic decline over drift distance. In two small streams, 90% of drifting fragments were retained at distances (D-90) of only 5-9 m and 19-70 m, while higherD(90)values of 116-903 m and 153-2,367 m were determined for sections of a medium-sized stream. The likelihood of retention thereby decreased significantly with increasing stream size and was reduced in straightened stream sections. Differences in retention were more strongly related to fragment buoyancy rather than fragment size and morphology. Increasing buoyancy significantly lowered the likelihood of fragment retention over drift distance by a factor of 3-8, whereas contrasting effects were documented for size and morphology of fragments. The relevance of different obstacles was highly stream section-specific and depended on obstacle abundance, distribution, and the degree of submergence/emergence. Our findings elucidate the dynamic retention patterns of plant fragments and highlight the strong interplay between extrinsic (stream) and intrinsic (fragment) properties. We conclude that straightened lowland streams of intermediate size promote the rapid dispersal of invasive aquatic plants and are particularly prone to invaders producing large amounts of small and highly buoyant plant fragments. Information on the species-specific fragment colonisation dynamics in the field is further required to improve our understanding of the vegetative dispersal capacity of invasive aquatic plants in stream ecosystems.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Heidbuechel, Patrick UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Sachs, Maria UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Hamzehian, Nadia UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Hussner, Andreas UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-323197
DOI:	10.1111/fwb.13590
Journal or Publication Title:	Freshw. Biol.
Volume:	65
Number:	11
Page Range:	S. 1936 - 1950
Date:	2020
Publisher:	WILEY
Place of Publication:	HOBOKEN
ISSN:	1365-2427
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language PROPAGULE PRESSURE; OVERLAND DISPERSAL; INVASION SUCCESS; GROWTH-RATES; COLONIZATION; REGENERATION; ESTABLISHMENT; REPRODUCTION; MACROPHYTES; RIPARIAN Multiple languages Ecology; Marine & Freshwater Biology Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/32319