Variations of multi-elements in wetland plants on the Tibetan Plateau are mainly determined by environmental factors

Abstract

Currently, understanding of the variation and balance of multi-elements has mainly focused on terrestrial plants, however, only a few studies focused on aquatic plants in cold alpine wetlands. Here, we examined the pattern of concentrations and variations of 24 elements in wetland plants (including emerged, hydrophytic, and submerged macrophytes) across the Tibetan Plateau (China). The concentrations of these elements exhibit a wide extent by five orders of magnitude, besides, a significantly negative correlation is found between the average concentrations and their variations of each element, which means the macroelements are less variable than the microelements. The environmental factors, including the aqueous and edaphic properties and nutrient concentrations, drive the pattern of multi-element in wetland plants, while the spatial and climatic variables, along with the phylogenetic and taxonomic effects only provide modest contributions. Although human interference was not selected for the final best-fitting model, anthropogenic activities cannot be ignored. Our findings advance the knowledge about vegetal elements in high-altitude wetlands beyond the framework of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, and facilitate the understanding of the multi-elemental model and the driving factors.

Keywords

• Elemental variability
• Macroelement
• Microelement
• Nutrient concentration
• Stoichiometric homeostasis