Jennifer H. Richards

Bladder function in Utricularia purpurea (Lentibulariaceae): is carnivory important?

Utricularia purpurea is a rootless, free-floating, aquatic, carnivorous plant. I quantified biomass investment in U. purpurea traps and determined when traps begin to function and what they trap in natural habitats. In the Everglades of south Florida, plants invest an average of 26% of their biomass in bladders, although bladder number varies among sites and over time. Leaves begin trapping as they mature, and on leaves one whorl older than the most recently matured leaves, almost 100% of bladders have allochthonous material. Despite the substantial investment in their biomass, bladders capture few aquatic microinvertebrates. Almost all mature bladders, however, have living communities of algae, zooplankton, and associated debris. These results support the hypotheses that the important association in U. purpurea bladders is a mutualism rather than a predator-prey interaction and that the major benefit to the plants from bladders is derived from this community.

Short-term changes in phosphorus storage in an oligotrophic Everglades wetland ecosystem receiving experimental nutrient enrichment

Natural, unenriched Evergladeswetlands are known to be limited by phosphorus(P) and responsive to P enrichment. However,whole-ecosystem evaluations of experimental Padditions are rare in Everglades or otherwetlands. We tested the response of theEverglades wetland ecosystem to continuous,low-level additions of P (0, 5, 15, and30 μg L−1 above ambient) in replicate,100 m flow-through flumes located in unenrichedEverglades National Park. After the first sixmonths of dosing, the concentration andstanding stock of phosphorus increased in thesurface water, periphyton, and flocculentdetrital layer, but not in the soil or macrophytes. Of the ecosystem components measured, total P concentration increased the most in the floating periphyton mat (30 μg L−1: mean = 1916 μg P g−1, control: mean =149 μg P g−1), while the flocculentdetrital layer stored most of the accumulated P(30 μg L−1: mean = 1.732 g P m−2,control: mean = 0.769 g P m−2). Significant short-term responsesof P concentration and standing stock wereobserved primarily in the high dose (30 μgL−1 above ambient) treatment. Inaddition, the biomass and estimated P standingstock of aquatic consumers increased in the 30and 5 μg L−1 treatments. Alterationsin P concentration and standing stock occurredonly at the upstream ends of the flumes nearestto the point source of added nutrient. Thetotal amount of P stored by the ecosystemwithin the flume increased with P dosing,although the ecosystem in the flumes retainedonly a small proportion of the P added over thefirst six months. These results indicate thatoligotrophic Everglades wetlands respondrapidly to short-term, low-level P enrichment,and the initial response is most noticeable inthe periphyton and flocculent detrital layer.

Genotypic Diversity and Clonal Structure of Everglades Sawgrass, Cladium jamaicense (Cyperaceae)

The extent of asexual reproduction and the spatial distribution of clones can influence ecological and evolutionary processes in populations. Sawgrass, Cladium jamaicense, which is the dominant ecosystem component in the Florida Everglades, can reproduce sexually and asexually. We examined patterns of genotypic diversity and evaluated the importance of clonal reproduction in Everglades populations of C. jamaicense, using allozymes as genetic markers. We sampled plants in a replicated grid along 11‐m transects in 18 populations of sawgrass distributed throughout the Everglades. Genotypic diversity was low in Everglades sawgrass populations, compared with other plants (mean [SE] number of multilocus genotypes per populatio \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcommand\sfdefault{wncyss} \renewcommand\encodingdefault{OT2} \normalfont \selectfont} \DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyr} \pagestyle{empty} \DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6} \begin{document} \landscape

Floral phenology and compatibility of sawgrass, Cladium jamaicense (Cyperaceae)

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An architectural model for Eleocharis : Morphology and development of Eleocharis cellulosa (cyperaceae)

\end{document} [0.7]), but only one population was monomorphic. Diversity was present even at a small scale; 85 of 108 1‐m2 quadrats had more than one multilocus genotype. South Florida water management areas did not differ with respect to genotypic diversity, except for Everglades National Park, which had populations with a smaller proportion of polymorphic quadrats. Sawgrass clones were closer together than nonclones on average, although this varied among populations. Despite this observation, we found little evidence for spatial structuring of clones using the method of probability of clonal identity. This result reflected the broad interdigitation of clones along transects. Estimated mean (SE) minimum clone size was 46.2 (5.2) m2 and clones may reach over 200 m2. Our results indicate that asexual reproduction is common in C. jamaicense populations but that genotypic diversity is maintained throughout the ecosystem, even at relatively small scales.

Investigating uptake and translocation of mercury species by sawgrass ( Cladium jamaicense ) using a stable isotope tracer technique.

Genetic diversity studies of wetland plants are scarce, but estimates of genetic diversity are useful for learning about plant biology or developing appropriate management strategies. We used allozymes to examine patterns of genetic diversity in Cladium jamaicense, the dominant plant species of the Florida Everglades. We sampled 18 populations (a total of 818 plants) in a replicated grid pattern. Because C. jamaicense can reproduce asexually, we compared estimates of genetic diversity calculated using all sampled ramets to those using only genets within populations. Fewer than half of the 13 loci studied were polymorphic ( \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcommand\sfdefault{wncyss} \renewcommand\encodingdefault{OT2} \normalfont \selectfont} \DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyr} \pagestyle{empty} \DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{6} \begin{document} \landscape

Quantitative Comparison of Plant Community Hydrology Using Large-Extent, Long-Term Data

P_{\mathrm{s}\,}=46.2\%