Multielement stoichiometry of submerged macrophytes across Yunnan plateau lakes (China)

Stoichiometric homeostasis of element composition is one of the central concepts of ecological stoichiometry. We analyzed concentrations of macroelements (C, N, P, Ca, K, Mg, S), microelements (Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Zn) and beneficial elements (Na, Se, Si) in submerged macrophytes, water and sediments across 20 Yunnan plateau lakes. We predicted that tissue element composition in submerged macrophytes is affected by lake trophic level and taxonomy, and submerged macrophytes have weak stoichiometric homeostasis for all above 16 elements. Canonical discriminant analyses successfully discriminated among trophic level groups and taxa groups. Of all the elements, C, N, P and S most effectively discriminated among trophic level groups across 20 lakes, revealing lake trophic level mostly affect tissue macroelement composition in submerged macrophytes; while Ca, K and Se most effectively discriminated among submerged macrophytes taxa groups, suggesting taxonomy mostly affect compositions of macroelements and beneficial elements in submerged macrophytes. In addition, the stoichiometric homeostatic coefficient of 1/HCa:C for all five taxa of submerged macrophytes were less than zero, suggesting submerged macrophytes in Yunnan plateau lakes have strong Ca stoichiometric homeostasis. Our findings, not only broaden the knowledge of multielement stoichiometric homeostasis, but also help to choose most appropriate lake management strategy.