Ecological and biological characteristics of Suriana maritima

Abstract

Suriana maritima is a coastal ornamental plant species distributing only on the South China Sea Islands in China, at present. In order to understand the ecological and biological characteristics of S. maritima, we investigated the morphological and anatomical structure of stem and leaf, the antioxidant enzyme activity and osmotic adjustments contents in leaf of S. maritima, and nutrient element contents in leaf and soil of S. maritima growing on the Paracel Islands, by field investigation and sampling for analysis. The results were as follows: (1) S. maritima had small and thick leaf, well-developed palisade tissue, and low stomatal density (8.64 n·mm-2), which make it easy to maintain water in the body and suitable for drought and high saline-alkali environments. The chlorophyll content (0.76 mg·g-1) of the leaf was low, the total antioxidant capacity (589.50 U·g-1) and proline content (1 123.64 μg·g-1) were high, indicating that S. maritima had high photosynthetic utilization efficiency and strong antioxidant capacity. (2)Though the nutrient in natural growing soil was poor, the contents of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus in leaf of S. maritima were relatively high (490.27, 18.10, and 3.81 g·kg-1, respectively), indicating a high nutrient utilization efficiency and good adaptability of S. maritima to poor soil. In conclusion, S. maritima has a good adaptability to the environment of strong radiation, drought, high saline-alkali and poor soil on tropical coral islands, and can be used as a tool species for revegetation and landscaping on tropical coral islands. The results provide a theoretical basis for its protection, development and utilization.

Keywords

• suriana maritima
• anatomical structure
• ecological and biological characteristics
• tropical coral islands