Distribution patterns of plant communities and their associations with environmental soil factors on the eastern shore of Lake Taihu, China

Introduction: Plant communities and soil factors might interact with each other in different temporal and spatial scales, which can influence the patterns and processes of the wetland ecosystem. To get a better understanding of the distribution of plants in wetlands and analyze their associations with environmental soil factors, the structure and types of plant communities in the eastern shore area of Lake Taihu were analyzed by two-way indicator species analysis and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) ordination. The spatial distribution patterns of vegetation and the main factors affecting the distributions were investigated. Outcomes: Sixty-six sampling sites were selected to obtain vegetation species and soil environmental factor data. Results showed that 22 species from the 66 sites could be divided into seven communities: I: Arundo donax; II: A. donax + Phragmites australis; III: Zizania latifolia + Typha orientalis; IV: P. australis + Alternanthera philoxeroides + Polygonum hydropiper; V: P. australis; VI: P. australis + Humulus scandens; and VII: Erigeron acer + Ipomoea batatas + Rumex acetosa. Plant species and soil factors in the CCA analysis showed that I. batatas, E. acer, Chenopodium album, Polygonum lapathifolium, and Acalypha australis were mainly affected by pH, whereas Echinochloa crus-galli, Setaria viridis, and H. scandens were mainly affected by soil total phosphorus. Mentha canadensis and A. donax were mainly affected by soil conductivity, A. philoxeroides was mainly affected by soil organic matter and, Z. latifolia, Metaplexis japonica and P. hydropiper were mainly affected by available phosphorus. Conclusion: These results indicated that different plants adapted to different soil environmental factors and provided basic information on the diversity of Lake Taihu wetland vegetation.