1960年以来太湖水生植被演变

Changes of aquatic vegetation in Lake Taihu since 1960s

太湖的富营养化污染日益严重,针对太湖水生植被的研究工作非常重要,然而全面的太湖水生植被调查已经有将近二十年未见报道.基于2014年夏季全湖水生植被调查结果,结合历史资料,比较分析1960年以来太湖水生植被演变情况.结果表明,1960年以来,共有23种水生植物从太湖消失,其中1981、1997和2014年分别消失7、4和12种.从分布区面积来看,1960年以来太湖水生植被总体呈北部湖区水生植被消失,东北部、东部及南部湖区水生植被分布区面积持续扩张的态势,1981年全湖水生植被分布区面积占8%,到2014年已经有33.82%的水面有水生植被分布.从生物量组成来看,太湖水生植被先升后降,从1960年的10×10~4t,持续上升到1988年的44.72×10~4t,1997年下降到36×10~4t,2014年进一步下降到29.09×10~4t.但挺水植被以外的水生植被,尤其是浮叶植被的生物量一直保持上升态势.总生物量的下降与东太湖挺水植被大面积消失有关,到2014年全湖挺水植被生物量比重仅占5.15%,东太湖沼泽化问题已不复存在.从群落组成变化情况来看,苦草(Vallisneria natans)群落分布区面积锐减,马来眼子菜(Potamogeton malaianus)和荇菜(Nymphoides peltatum)分布区持续扩张.目前太湖水生植被管理面临的主要问题是北部湖区水生植被恢复和东部湖区水生植被过量生长.

Comprehensive investigations on aquatic vegetation have been scarcely implemented in Lake Taihu during the past two decades, which is of special importance with the severe eutrophication and pollution. The change in aquatic vegetation in Lake Taihu since 1960 were analyzed based on the exhaustive survey of vegetation in summer, 2014. The results indicated that 23 spe- cies disappeared in Lake Taihu since 1960, in which 7 species disappeared in 1981, 4 species disappeared in 1997, and 12 spe- cies disappeared in 2014. From the perspective of spatial distribution, aquatic vegetation showed a trend of expansion in the east part and a trend of shrinking in the west of the lake. The coverage rate of aquatic vegetation to the entire lake area was 8% in 1981, whereas, this value increased to 33.82% in 2014. The biomass of aquatic vegetation increased from approximately 1 × 10^5 t in 1960 to 4.472× 10^ t in 1997, and then decreased from 3.6× 10^5 t in 1997 to 2.909× 10^5 t in 2014, respectively. However, excluding the emergent Phragmities australis community, the biomass of other aquatic vegetation, particularly that of the floating-leafed vegeta-tion, continuously increased. A rapid decrease of biomass was closely related to the diminishing of emergent plants in the eastern lake, which accounted for only 5.15% of the total vegetative biomass in Lake Taihu in 2014. It suggests that now the trouble of swampiness does not exist in this area any longer. The change in community composition revealed that the area of Vallisneria natans sharply decreased, while that of Potamogeton malaianus and Nymphoides peltatum progressively increased. Currently, the main is- sues of aquatic vegetation management in Lake Taihu are restoring the aquatic vegetation in the northern lake and controlling the o- vergrowth of aquatic vegetation in the eastern lake.