Temperature and flooding depth thresholds for early recruitment stages in a bulbous plant Bolboschoenus planiculmis

Abstract

Early recruitment process dominated by vegetation reproduction for wetland plant is a key life-history stage affecting species distribution. Extreme climatic events, such as extreme temperature and heavy rainfall have been predicted to become more intense and frequent under future climate scenarios. To explore the effect of temperature and flooding depth on tubers sprouting and early growth of Bolboschoenus planiculmis, we conducted two artificial experiments in the incubator and greenhouse, including ten temperature regimes (8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28 and 31°C), and ten flooding depth treatments (-5, 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 16, 20, 30 and 40 cm). The results showed that the temperature and flooding depth had significant effect on the tuber sprouting and ramet early growth. The estimated base temperature for the sprouting is 6.2°C, the final sprouting percentage increased parabolically with increasing temperature and reached a maximum of 61.09% at 25.4°C. The final sprouting percentage increased first and then decreased with increasing flooding depth, and reached a maximum of 96.04% at 3.92 cm. The ramet height increased first and then decreased with increasing flooding depth, and reached a maximum of 61.29 cm at 8.20 cm. Our study will provide a basis for understanding and predicting the influence of climate change on the distribution of B. planiculmis.