While the mechanisms by which adult terrestrial plants deploy constitutive and induced responses to grazing pressure are well known, the means by which young aquatic plants defend themselves from herbivory are little studied. This study addresses nitrogen transport in the aquatic angiosperm Myriophyllum spicatum in response to herbivore exposure. Nitrogen tracers were used to monitor nitrogen u...

This study investigated the presence and distribution of 22 antibiotics, including eight quinolones, nine sulfonamides and five macrolides, in the water, sediments, and biota samples from Baiyangdian Lake, China. A total of 132 samples were collected in 2008 and 2010, and laboratory analyses revealed that antibiotics were widely distributed in the lake. Sulfonamides were the dominant antibiotic...

This study determined the relative sensitivity of five species of aquatic macrophytes and six species of algae to four commonly used herbicides (atrazine, metribuzin, alachlor, and metolachlor). Toxicity tests consisted of 96-h (duckweed and algae) or 14-d (submerged macrophytes) static exposures. The triazine herbicides (atrazine and metribuzin) were significantly more toxic to aquatic plants ...

Diverse industrial wastes have aggravated the problem of water pollution. This problem becomes complex because of the non-degradability of inorganic pollutants like heavy metals. Metals have received particular attention among other non-degradable toxic chemicals because of their adverse effects on aquatic life forms. To control water pollution, the immediate problems have to be solved by adopt...

Wetlands are often considered sinks for contaminants, and Aquatic plants have been shown to play important roles in wetland biogeochemistry through their active and passive circulation of elements. In this research, in order to evaluate the concentration level of heavy metals released by the urban, industrial and agricultural activities at the margin of the rivers flowing into Anzali lagoon, as...

The availability of standardised methodologies to assess the environmental risks of pesticides to non-target plants is currently limited. Aquatic plant test guidelines are only available for algae and Lemna. These studies may not be sufficient especially in the case when contamination via sediment is an important exposure pathway. The present study was initiated to investigate the effects of ex...

PURPOSE: This technical note uses a modeling approach to examine the impacts of suspended sediment concentrations and current velocity on the persistence of submersed macrophytes in a shallow aquatic system. Studies were conducted on Peoria Lake, Illinois, spanning historical times when a meadow-forming species (Vallisneria americana) successively thrived and disappeared, and current times when...

The extent of O2 transport from aerial plant tissue into the root zone was evaluated for several floating and emergent aquatic macrophytes that have characteristics favorable for wastewater treatment. The highest Oi transport rates from aerial tissue into the root zone were associated with plants having a small root mass. As root mass increased, the rate of O, transport decreased for aquatic ma...

8 Think about your first reaction if you saw a poster at your local pet shop announcing “New Ornamental Plant Kills All Algae in Your Tank Within 24 Hours—Money Back Guarantee!” How much would you be willing to spend on such a plant? Unfortunately, no such plant has yet been identified. But it is a scientific fact that some plants secrete chemicals that are toxic to other plants. Can we use suc...

We experimentally examined plant zonation in a previously unstudied Chilean salt marsh system to test the generality of mechanisms generating zonation of plants across intertidal stress gradients. Vertical zonation in this system is striking. The low-lying clonal succulent, Sarcocornia fruticosa, dominates the daily flooded low marsh, while intermediate elevations are dominated by the much tall...