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We provide reflectance spectra for 22 South African palmiet wetland species collected in spring 2015 from three wetlands throughout the Cape Floristic Region. In addition, we provide summarized plant functional trait data, as well as supporting and meta-data. Reflectance spectra were collected with a portable ASD Fieldspec Pro using standard methods. The 14 plant functional traits were measured on 10 replicates of each species, following standard protocols. We provide tables detailing these standard methods, as well a table with hypotheses on how these 14 continuous traits, as well as an additional 9 categorical traits, may affect ecosystem service provision. In addition, tables are attached which detail which functional and spectral groups these species belong to, according to the data. Finally, we include a photographic plate of the species data are provide for. We make these data available in an effort to assist in research on the understanding of how traits affect ecosystem service provision in wetlands, and particularly of whether remote sensing can be used to map these traits in wetlands.

Freshwater ecosystems are confronted with the effects of climate change. One of the major changes is an increased concentration of aquatic carbon. Macrophytes are important in the aquatic carbon cycle and play as primary producers a crucial role in carbon storage in aquatic systems. However, macrophytes are affected by increasing carbon concentrations. The focus of this review lies on dissolved organic carbon (DOC), one of the most abundant forms of carbon in aquatic ecosystems which has many effects on macrophytes. DOC concentrations are rising; the exact cause of this increase is not known, although it is hypothesized that climate change is one of the drivers. The quality of DOC is also changing; for example, in urban areas DOC composition is different from the composition in natural watersheds, resulting in DOC that is more resistant to photo-degradation. Plants can benefit from DOC as it attenuates UV-B radiation, it binds potentially harmful heavy metals and provides CO 2 as it breaks down. Yet plant growth can also be impaired under high DOC concentrations, especially by humic substances (HS). HS turn the water brown and attenuate light, which limits macrophyte photosynthesis at greater depths. This leads to lower macrophyte abundance and lower species diversity. HS form a wide class of chemicals with many different functional groups and they therefore have the ability to interfere with many biochemical processes that occur in freshwater organisms. Few studies have looked into the direct effects of HS on macrophytes, but there is evidence that HS can interfere with photosynthesis by entering macrophyte cells and causing damage. DOC can also affect reactivity of heavy metals, water and sediment chemistry. This indirectly affects macrophytes too, so they are exposed to multiple stressors that may have contradictive effects. Finally, macrophytes can affect DOC quality and quantity as they produce DOC themselves and provide a substrate to heterotrophic bacteria that degrade DOC. Because macrophytes take a key position in the aquatic ecosystem, it is essential to understand to what extent DOC quantity and quality in surface water are changing and how this will affect macrophyte growth and species diversity in the future.

The presence of vegetation in stream ecosystems is highly dynamic in both space and time. A digital photography technique is developed to map aquatic vegetation cover at species level, which has a very high spatial and a flexible temporal resolution. A digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera mounted on a handheld telescopic pole is used. The low-altitude (5 m) orthogonal aerial images have a low spectral resolution (red-green-blue), high spatial resolution (∼1.9 pixels cm -2 , ∼1.3 cm length) and flexible temporal resolution (monthly). The method is successfully applied in two lowland rivers to quantify four key properties of vegetated rivers: vegetation cover, patch size distribution, biomass and hydraulic resistance. The main advantages are that the method is (i) suitable for continuous and discontinuous vegetation covers, (ii) of very high spatial and flexible temporal resolution, (iii) relatively fast compared to conventional ground survey methods, (iv) non-destructive and (v) relatively cheap and easy to use, and (vi) the software is widely available and similar open source alternatives exist. The study area should be less than 10 m wide, and the prevailing light conditions and water turbidity levels should be sufficient to look into the water. Further improvements of the image processing are expected in the automatic delineation and classification of the vegetation patches.

Despite increasing recognition of the relevance of biological cycling for Si cycling in ecosystems and for Si export from soils to fluvial systems, effects of human cultivation on the Si cycle are still relatively understudied. Here we examined stable Si isotope (δ(30)Si) signatures in soil water samples across a temperate land use gradient. We show that - independent of geological and climatological variation - there is a depletion in light isotopes in soil water of intensive croplands and managed grasslands relative to native forests. Furthermore, our data suggest a divergence in δ(30)Si signatures along the land use change gradient, highlighting the imprint of vegetation cover, human cultivation and intensity of disturbance on δ(30)Si patterns, on top of more conventionally acknowledged drivers (i.e. mineralogy and climate).

Silicon (Si) is one of the most common elements in the earth bedrock, and its continental cycle is strongly biologically controlled. Yet, research on the biogeochemical cycle of Si in ecosystems is hampered by the time and cost associated with the currently used chemical analysis methods. Here, we assessed the suitability of Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) for measuring Si content in plant tissues. NIR spectra depend on the characteristics of the present bonds between H and N, C and O, which can be calibrated against concentrations of various compounds. Because Si in plants always occurs as hydrated condensates of orthosilicic acid (Si(OH)4), linked to organic biomolecules, we hypothesized that NIRS is suitable for measuring Si content in plants across a range of plant species. We based our testing on 442 samples of 29 plant species belonging to a range of growth forms. We calibrated the NIRS method against a well-established plant Si analysis method by using partial least-squares regression. Si concentrations ranged from detection limit (0.24 ppmSi) to 7.8% Si on dry weight and were well predicted by NIRS. The model fit with validation data was good across all plant species (n = 141, R (2) = 0.90, RMSEP = 0.24), but improved when only graminoids were modeled (n = 66, R (2) = 0.95, RMSEP = 0.10). A species specific model for the grass Deschampsia cespitosa showed even slightly better results than the model for all graminoids (n = 16, R (2) = 0.93, RMSEP = 0.015). We show for the first time that NIRS is applicable for determining plant Si concentration across a range of plant species and growth forms, and represents a time- and cost-effective alternative to the chemical Si analysis methods. As NIRS can be applied concurrently to a range of plant organic constituents, it opens up unprecedented research possibilities for studying interrelations between Si and other plant compounds in vegetation, and for addressing the role of Si in ecosystems across a range of Si research domains.

Silica is well known for its role as inducible defence mechanism countering herbivore attack, mainly through precipitation of opaline, biogenic silica (BSi) bodies (phytoliths) in plant epidermal tissues. Even though grazing strongly interacts with other element cycles, its impact on terrestrial silica cycling has never been thoroughly considered. Here, BSi content of ingested grass, hay and faeces of large herbivores was quantified by performing multiple chemical extraction procedures for BSi, allowing the assessment of chemical reactivity. Dissolution experiments with grass and faeces were carried out to measure direct availability of BSi for dissolution. Average BSi and readily soluble silica numbers were higher in faeces as compared with grass or hay, and differences between herbivores could be related to distinct digestive strategies. Reactivity and dissolvability of BSi increases after digestion, mainly due to degradation of organic matrices, resulting in higher silica turnover rates and mobilization potential from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems in non-grazed versus grazed pasture systems (2 versus 20 kg Si ha(-1) y(-1)). Our results suggest a crucial yet currently unexplored role of herbivores in determining silica export from land to ocean, where its availability is linked to eutrophication events and carbon sequestration through C-Si diatom interactions.