title: Physiological responses of the seagrass Thalassia hemprichii (Ehrenb.) Aschers as indicators of nutrient loading.
abstract: To select appropriate bioindicators for the evaluation of the influence of nutrients from human activities in a Thalassia hemprichii meadow, environmental variables and plant performance parameters were measured in Xincun Bay, Hainan Island, South China. Nutrient concentrations in the bay decreased along a gradient from west to southeast. Moreover, the nutrients decreased with an increase in the distance from the shore on the southern side of the bay. Among the candidate indicators, the P content of the tissues closely mirrored the two nutrient loading gradients. The epiphytic algae biomass and the N content in the tissues mirrored one of the two nutrient loading trends. The leaf length, however, exhibited a significant negative correlation with the nutrient gradients. We propose that changes in the P content of T. hemprichii, followed by epiphytic algae biomass and N content of the tissues, may be the useful indicators of nutrient loading to coastal ecosystems.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, PR China; Tropical Marine Biological Research Station in Hainan, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572200, PR China.
authors.forename: Jingping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, PR China. Electronic address: xphuang@scsio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio-resources and Ecology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, PR China; Tropical Marine Biological Research Station in Hainan, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya 572200, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D002681:China; D017753:Ecosystem; D031321:Hydrocharitaceae / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000378:metabolism
keywords: Bioindicator; Nutrient content; Nutrient gradient; Physiological responses; Thalassia hemprichii