Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2023, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (4): 559-570.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2022.0188

Special Issue: 生态化学计量 植物功能性状

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Intraspecific variations in plant functional traits of four common herbaceous species under different abandoned years and their relevant driving factors in Lijiang River Basin, China

CHEN Xue-Chun, LIU Hong, ZHU Shao-Qi, SUN Ming-Yao, YU Zhen-Rong, WANG Qing-Gang*()   

  1. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Organic Farming of Beijing City, Beijing 100193, China
  • Received:2022-05-11 Accepted:2022-11-04 Online:2023-04-20 Published:2023-02-28
  • Contact: *(wangqg@cau.edu.cn)
  • Supported by:
    National Key R & D Program of China(2019YFC0507501)

Abstract:

Aims Exploring intraspecific variations of plant functional traits with abandoned years and the relevant driving factors will deepen our understanding about the vegetation recovery of abandoned lands and thus guide our agricultural management.

Methods Using the method of substitution of space for time, we set up 42 plots in four types of habitat, i.e., field margin, abandoned grassland, shrub-grassland and forest which represents community succession along a chronosequence of vegetation restoration in Sitang town, Lingui District of Guilin in the middle reaches of Lijiang River watershed. We investigated change of intraspecific variation of five functional traits (i.e., leaf mass per area, leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen (N) content, leaf phosphorus (P) content and plant height) for four common herbaceous species (Imperata cylindrica, Paspalum distichum, Bidens pilosa and Alternanthera philoxeroides) with abandoned years. We also investigated the effects of soil properties and woody plant coverage on the intraspecific variation of functional traits.

Important findings With the increase of abandoned years, soil N and P content decreased significantly, soil N:P increased first and then decreased, and the woody plant coverage increased significantly. Leaf N content of I. cylindrica increased significantly, while leaf P content decreased significantly with the increase of abandoned years. This is because leaf N content decreased significantly and leaf P content increased significantly with the increase of soil P content. Leaf mass per area and leaf dry matter content of P. distichum increased significantly and plant height decreased significantly with the increase of abandoned years. Plant height of B. pilosa decreased significantly with the increase of abandoned years, because plant height of B. pilosa decreased significantly with the increase of woody plant coverage. Leaf mass per area of A. philoxeroides decreased significantly with the increase of abandoned years, because leaf mass per area of A. philoxeroides increased significantly with the increase of soil N:P. In sum, the intraspecific changes of plant functional traits are caused by the changes of soil physical and chemical properties and woody plant coverage with abandoned years.

Key words: leaf functional trait, plant height, intraspecific variation, abandoned land, adaptive strategy, invasive alien species