Primary Production of Vascular Aquatic Plants

Abstract

In this paper, data are presented on the productivity of four hay crops, five prairie plots, one floodplain community, one cultivated aquatic crop, two emergent plant populations, and two floating mat communities. The productivity (production rate) of the communities investigated varied with the amount of light, water, and nutrients available. The average productivity, in grams of carbon per square meter per day, based on the terminal crop, was moderate (1.5) in hay crops, tall grass prairie and rice, relatively high (3.6) in giant ragweed and presumably still higher in certain aquatic plants. The terminal standing crop was found to be less than the sum of periodic measurements of the developing crop. It was noted also that the magnitude of productivity values depended upon the time of harvest. The productivity of vascular aquatic plants was usually highest in spring and autumn and lowest during the summer. Low summer productivity was due primarily to the relatively low rate of photosynthesis, compared with that of respiration, during hot summer weather. On the basis of present data it appears that productivity in the terrestrial habitat was greatest along shorelines of water bodies and did not increase continuously in the hydrarch succession toward the regional climax.