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

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2022.0188

Abstract

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

CHEN Xue-Chun, LIU Hong, ZHU Shao-Qi, SUN Ming-Yao, YU Zhen-Rong, WANG Qing-Gang. 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[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2023, 47(4): 559-570.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2022.0188

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2023/V47/I4/559

Figures/Tables 7

Table 1 Basic information of four common herbaceous species in natural and semi-natural habitats of agricultural landscape in Guilin

种 Species	科 Family	生活型 Life form	果实类型 Fruit type	样地数量 No. of plots	物候期 Phenological phase
白茅 Imperata cylindrica	禾本科 Poaceae	多年生 Perennial	颖果 Caryopsis	16	花果期 Flowering and fruiting phase
双穗雀稗 Paspalum distichum	禾本科 Poaceae	多年生 Perennial	颖果 Caryopsis	11	花果期 Flowering and fruiting phase
鬼针草 Bidens pilosa	菊科 Asteraceae	一年生 Annual	瘦果 Achenium	13	花期 Flowering phase
喜旱莲子草 Alternanthera philoxeroides	苋科 Amaranthaceae	多年生 Perennial	胞果 Utricle	15	花果期 Flowering and fruiting phase

Fig. 1 Locations of plots for four natural and semi-natural habitats (field margin, abandoned grassland, shrub-grassland and forest) in agricultural landscape of Guilin.

Table 2 Average value, standard deviation and coefficient of variation for functional traits of four common herbaceous species in natural and semi-natural habitats of agricultural landscape in Guilin

	白茅Imperata cylindrica		双穗雀稗Paspalum distichum		鬼针草Bidens pilosa		喜旱莲子Alternanthera philoxeroides
	平均值±标准差 Mean ± SD	变异系数 CV	平均值±标准差 Mean ± SD	变异系数 CV	平均值±标准差 Mean ± SD	变异系数 CV	平均值±标准差 Mean ± SD	变异系数 CV
比叶质量 LMA (g·m^-2)	78.716 ± 14.373^a	0.183	49.190 ± 19.453^b	0.395	38.768 ± 14.882^b	0.384	37.871 ± 10.858^b	0.287
叶干物质含量 LDMC	0.460 ± 0.063^a	0.137	0.288 ± 0.063^b	0.218	0.270 ± 0.108^b	0.400	0.175 ± 0.052^c	0.296
叶片氮含量 LNC (mg·g^-1)	10.957 ± 1.658^c	0.151	21.987 ± 9.355^b	0.425	27.948 ± 7.738^b	0.277	37.437 ± 8.546^a	0.229
叶片磷含量 LPC (mg·g^-1)	1.282 ± 0.664^b	0.519	2.452 ± 0.962^a	0.393	2.848 ± 1.224^a	0.428	3.185 ± 0.822^a	0.258
植株高度 plant height (m)	0.521 ± 0.205^a	0.393	0.225 ± 0.157^b	0.698	0.487 ± 0.161^a	0.331	0.214 ± 0.088^b	0.413

Fig. 2 Changes of soil nitrogen and phosphorus contents, soil pH and woody plant coverage with abandoned years and the change of soil phosphorus content with woody plant coverage in natural and semi-natural habitats of agricultural landscape in Guilin. SNC, soil nitrogen (N) content; SPC, soil phosphorus (P) content; WPC, woody plant coverage. The woody plant coverage is calculated as the sum of coverages of tree layer and shrub layer.

Fig. 3 Changes of functional traits with abandoned years of four common herbaceous species in natural and semi-natural habitats of agricultural landscape in Guilin. Field margin was not included in the analysis. LDMC, leaf dry matter content; LMA, leaf mass per area; LNC, leaf nitrogen content; LPC, leaf phosphorus content.

Fig. 4 Coefficient of determination of regression relationship of functional traits of four common herbaceous species with soil nitrogen (SNC) and phosphorus (SPC) contents, soil nitrogen to phosphorus ration (N:P), soil pH and woody plant coverage (WPC) in natural and semi-natural habitats of agricultural landscape in Guilin. LDMC, leaf dry matter content; LMA, leaf mass per area; LNC, leaf nitrogen content; LPC, leaf phosphorus content. Red and blue cirles represent positive and negative regression coefficient, respectively. *, p < 0.1; **, p < 0.01. The woody plant coverage is calculated as the sum of coverages of tree layer and shrub layer.

Fig. 5 Changes of functional traits for the four common herbaceous species with soil nitrogen (SNC), phosphorus contents (SPC) and soil nitrogen to phosphorus ratio (N:P) in natural and semi-natural habitats of agricultural landscape in Guilin. LDMC, leaf dry matter content; LMA, leaf mass per area; LNC, leaf nitrogen content; LPC, leaf phosphorus content.

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