Leaf Enzyme and Plant Productivity Responses to Environmental Stress Associated with Sea Level Rise in Two Asian Mangrove Species
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The paper titled: "Ecophysiological responses and adaptability assessment of two mangrove species growing at different tide position to simulated sea level rise" does a satisfactory job of presenting some novel data on mangrove ecophysiological tolerance to flooding duration and water salinity. I can see the amount of work put into this research and commend that effort.
Below I give many suggestions that will improve the clarity of the manuscript, both in regard to the English and the scientific context. Please incorporate my suggestions to make the presentation of your research better.
comments:
I suggest shortening the title. perhaps: "Leaf enzyme and plant productivity responses to environmental stress associated with sea level rise in two Asian mangrove species"
see my edits and comments to the text in the attached file.
The main thing that needs to be done.
Please give effect sizes for the ANOVA results. Incorporate discussion of these in the results and conclusion.
I suggest the two following references
Kim, Yoon-Ha, et al. "Silicon regulates antioxidant activities of crop plants under abiotic-induced oxidative stress: a review." Frontiers in plant science 8 (2017): 510. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.00510/fullz
Watzka, Margarete, and Ernesto Medina. "Mangroves in Contrasting Osmotic Environments: Photosynthetic Costs of High Salinity Tolerance." Photosynthesis-From Its Evolution to Future Improvements in Photosynthetic Efficiency Using Nanomaterials. IntechOpen, 2018.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments
Point 1: I suggest shortening the title. perhaps: "Leaf enzyme and plant productivity responses to environmental stress associated with sea level rise in two Asian mangrove species"
Response 1: We accept your suggestion and replace the title of the article with "Leaf enzyme and plant productivity responses to environmental stress associated with sea level rise in two Asian mangrove species"
Point 2: Please give effect sizes for the ANOVA results. Incorporate discussion of these in the results and conclusion.
Response 2: We have supplemented the relevant content in the paper.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors of this study evaluate 2 species of mangroves from Hainan Island, China with respect to different salinity and flooding times using 4 variables (biomass growth, changes of MDA content, SOD and CAT activities). The experiment and amount of work put into the experimental design definitely make it a valuable source of information about mangrove response to environmental changes.
General comments:
Title: Make the title shorter
Abstract: Overall good and concise
Introduction: Overall good, maybe a bit more references about mangroves and their distribution
Material and methods: good. Can you give a difference in cm between the two plants in terms of tidal position or at least present the tidal difference in the area of the plants? This can be important as you discuss sea level rise.
Results: This part can become a bit shorter, especially the description of the results for each enzyme.
Overall, I would recommend some improvement of the English languages and some rephrasing/ elimination of repetition in various paragraphs throughout the text.
Specific comments:
L13: remove therefore and just say we focused
L14: and not italic
L25 to 28: In this paper…Remove. Place it in the conclusion
L33: Mangroves are woody plants communities distributed
L35: remove comma before and
L38: causing
L39: forcing, towards land
L40: A reference is needed for this statement of movement
L49: Remove these question require …exploration
L57: Name enzymes as well before abbreviations
L60: replace with tolerance level
L63: Give full location: Hainan Island, China
L71 to 74: remove sentence – This study… it is repeated
L78: Developed seedlings….
remove as experimental material
L79: was generally between…
L80: generally
L83: At a height of 20-25 cm they…
L87: remove with plants grown in a greenhouse
L89: sea salt (from Dongfanfcity saltworks). Remove next sentence
L93: The experiment was conducted
L100: Seedling biomass was measured as oven dried weight at 80…
L109: Precisely ??
L114: which a post hoc test
L119-121: Repharse to make it shorter
L136: remove value
L143: remove decreased
Table3 : F values are not that useful
Figure 1: Name the test you are using Tukey?.
Remove from caption (L150) Ac: A. ….. Bs: B. ….
L157: in both species
L156-159: again rephrase to make smaller and combine the sentences with and
Figure 2: caption is wrong Y axis is not biomass but SOD activity
Remove from caption (L180) Ac: A. ….. Bs: B. ….
Figure 3&4: caption is wrong Y axis is not biomass but CAT activity
Remove from caption Ac: A. ….. Bs: B. ….
L246: remove undeniable
L255: remove of mangroves plant to these changes
L261: why good examples?
L262: regarding
L263: and A. c seedlings
L267: and higher or lower salinities
L269: regarding
L270: indices (change of MDA content and Sod and Cat activities) showed that
L274: However physiological markers for Ac. Showed that
L276: remove in our setting salinity range
L283: With respect to
L285: had a higher growth not were more suitable for growth
L289: with modifications of flooding time in both senses inhibiting their growth
L294. Start new sentence: however
L296: Try to not repeat the changes of MDA content and SOD and CAT activities all the time
L303: we conclude that flooding tolerance of K…
L349: This study showed that
L351: remove of A.c and B.c ,
L352: the changes of seedling biomass
L351-353: what does that mean consistent with physiological response?
L353: the study showed that
L355: rising sea level
L356: are better adapted
L358: will be the firsts affected by the process.
L361: Other adaptive mechanisms of the mangrove seedlings in response to sea level rise need to be furthered investigated.
Author Response
Point 1: Title: Make the title shorter
Response 1: We have replaced the title of the article with "Leaf enzyme and plant productivity responses to environmental stress associated with sea level rise in two Asian mangrove species".
Point 2: Material and methods: good. Can you give a difference in cm between the two plants in terms of tidal position or at least present the tidal difference in the area of the plants? This can be important as you discuss sea level rise.
Response 2: We have added relevant content in the article "Tidal changes in the main distribution area of the two species were measured. That the tidal time in the main distribution area of A. corniculatum is 8-11 hours per day, and the B. sexangula is 4-6 hours per day."
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
