Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2022, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (3): 267-279.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2021.0350

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Functional trait variation of plant communities in canopy gaps of Castanopsis kawakamii natural forest

JIANG Lan1, WEI Chen-Si1, HE Zhong-Sheng1,*(), ZHU Jing1, XING Cong1, WANG Xue-Lin1, LIU Jin-Fu1, SHEN Cai-Xia2, SHI You-Wen3   

  1. 1College of Forestry, Cross-Strait Nature Reserve Research Center, Key Laboratory of Fujian Universities for Ecology and Resources Statistics, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
    2Administration Station of Castanopsis kawakamii Nature Reserve in Xinkou of Sanming, Sanming, Fujian 365000, China
    3Forest Inventory and Planning Institute of Fujian Province, Fuzhou 350003, China
  • Received:2021-10-04 Accepted:2022-01-14 Online:2022-03-20 Published:2022-01-24
  • Contact: HE Zhong-Sheng
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(31700550);Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province(2019J01367)

Abstract:

Aims Canopy gaps are a vital part of forest regeneration and succession. This paper aims to reveal the sources of functional trait variations and their relative contributions under forest canopy gaps. This will help to clarify the response of the plants to canopy gaps.
Methods The study was conducted in a natural forest of Castanopsis kawakamii in the central subtropical zone. Nine permanent plots with different sizes were set up under canopy gaps of this forest. The relative contributions of the gaps, species, and individuals to leaf trait variations were investigated using variance decomposition. Linear regression was used to analyze the importance of community mean trait variation and inter- and intraspecific trait variation among the different sizes of canopy gaps.
Important findings The variations of specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf thickness, and chlorophyll content of plants under canopy gaps were dominated by interspecific trait differences. Leaf nitrogen content was mainly varied within species, while the leaf phosphorus content was most affected by the size of canopy gap. The leaf phosphorus content had a significant positive correlation with gap size. This correlation may be mediated by the positive effect of soil temperature and hydrolyzed nitrogen and the negative effect of available phosphorus content. With the increase of canopy openness, the change of community phosphorus content was mainly caused by intraspecific trait variation, in which the dominant species played an important role. In conclusion, plant functional traits were still dominated by interspecific trait variation (41% on average) in the Castanopsis kawakamii natural forest, but the changes in community traits along the gap size gradients were mainly originated from intraspecific trait variation, which responded to the environmental changes through plant phenotypic plasticity, especially for dominant species.

Key words: trait variation, gap size, interspecific variation, intraspecific variation, community trait