Yongli Cai

Publications (3)4.24 Total impact

• Article: Salt marsh vegetation change after a short-term tidal restriction in the Changjiang estuary

  Shucun Sun, Yongli Cai, Xingjun Tian
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  ABSTRACT: The zonation of Scirpus mariqueter and Scirpus tabernaemontani communities is conspicuous in salt marshes of the Changjiang estuary. However, diking, which partly restricted tidal fluctuation in a salt marsh, resulted in the invasion of S. tabernaemontani into S. mariqueter communities. To explore the role of the interaction between the two species in the vegetation change, the structure of S. mariqueter tussocks at low elevation and S. tabernaemontani clones at medium elevation were investigated in the diked marsh, and biomass allocations to different components of the two species was also estimated. Scirpus mariqueter performed better at the edges of the tussocks but aged and declined in the central areas of the tussocks with low density of living shoots, large proportion of flowering shoots, and low aboveground dry mass. Scirpus taberaemontani grew vigorously in the center areas of large S. taberaemontani clones with high density of shoots, and those clones were surrounded by a residual ring of S. mariqueter, whose structure was similar to the pattern observed in the tussocks of S. mariqueter. Comparison of the vegetation structure along the elevational gradient of the diked marsh suggests that S. taberaemontani invades the center area of the Scirpus mariqueter tussocks, possibly due to changed topography and its well-developed aerenchymatous tissue. Scirpus tabernaemontani allocates a significantly greater proportion of biomass to photosynthetic shoots and rhizomes than S. mariqueter does, both above ground and below ground, a potential competitive advantage. Once established in the central areas of the S. mariqueter tussocks, S. taberaemontani successfully replaced S. mariqueter. We hypothesize that the competitive displacement of S. mariqueter by S. taberaemontani plays an important role in the vegetation change after the short-term tidal restriction and also in generating plant zonation in the salt marshes.
  Wetlands 05/2012; 23(2):257-266. · 1.34 Impact Factor
• Article: Differences in morphology and biomass allocation of Scirpus mariqueter between creekside and inland communities in the Changjiang estuary, China

  Shucun Sun, Yongli Cai, Shuqing An
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  ABSTRACT: To understand how Scirpus mariqueter responds to the creek-forming disturbance, we examined the differences in morphology and biomass allocation of the species between creekside and inland communities in the Changjiang estuary. Rhizome length and branching intensity were significantly greater in the creekside communities than in the inland community, and the were positively correlated to each other in both kinds of communities, enabling the clones to colonize a larger area and exploit resources efficiently in the creekside habitats. The plants growing along the creekside decreased substantially in their sexual reproduction and allocated more biomass to corms and vegetative reproduction than the inland ones. The biomass allocation pattern of the creekside clones was assumed to be a conservative strategy adopted by the species under disturbance to enhance survivorship at a clone level. In addition, our results imply that reciprocal translocation of materials between parent and daughter ramets probably occurred in the clones within the creekside communities, indicating that clonal integration may play an important role in controlling the responses of S. mariqueter to disturbance. We concluded that the clonal plant S. mariqueter has a high capacity for tolerating tidal disturbances.
  Wetlands 04/2012; 22(4):786-793. · 1.34 Impact Factor
• Article: Variations in sexual and asexual reproduction of Scirpus mariqueter along an elevational gradient

  Shucun Sun, Xianming Gao, Yongli Cai
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  ABSTRACT: In order to assess the importance of sexual and asexual reproduction during the life history of Scirpus mariqueter, its reproductive and growth characters were concurrently examined along an elevational gradient (from low elevation to high elevation). The proportions of flowering shoot and inflorescence mass, seed : flower ratio and seed weight were used to quantify the investment in sexual reproduction. The proportions of current-year shoot and rhizome mass were used to quantify the investment in asexual reproduction, and the proportion of corm mass was used for growth, respectively. It was found that vegetative propagation predominated at low elevation, whereas sexual reproduction predominated at high elevation; and that sexual reproduction increased with declining asexual reproduction along the gradient. The results suggest that asexual reproduction is relatively favored in the early life stage, whereas sexual reproduction is favored when the population becomes mature and aged, probably because of the functional differentiation between the two reproductive types. Sexual productive characters (i.e. the proportions of flowering shoot and inflorescence mass) were negatively correlated to both growth and asexual reproductive characters along the gradient, indicating there might exist some trade-offs among growth, sexual and asexual reproduction during the life history. However, no obvious pattern was found between asexual reproductive characters and growth characters along the elevational gradient, possibly because of the varied relationships between them at different life stages. The variations in sexual and asexual reproduction in the species and the relationship between them are thought to be of great significance for local population growth, species persistence and evolution.
  Ecological Research 12/2001; 16(2):263 - 274. · 1.57 Impact Factor