Relationship between morphological characteristics of Didymodon constrictus and environmental changes in Xizang and its response strategies

doi:10.17521/cjpe.2023.0116

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims Xizang is one of the most sensitive regions to global climate change, and bryophytes are sensitive indicator plants to environmental change. This study investigates the relationship between morphological traits and environmental factors such as climate, soil, and vegetation of Didymodon constrictus, which is widely distributed in Xizang. It analyzes the response strategies of bryophytes to environmental changes, providing reference for revealing the response mechanisms of bryophytes to environmental changes and formulating protection strategies for bryophytes in Xizang.

Methods Specimens were collected from Xizang from 2007 to 2015, and valid specimens of D. constrictus with a certain spatial distance were confirmed. Six mature plants were selected from each specimen and the morphological traits of plant height, leaves and related cells were measured. Pearson and redundancy analysis methods were used to analyze their relationships with the environmental conditions.

Important findings With the altitude increases, the plants become shorter, the leaves tend to be ovoid and the cell walls thicken. As the air temperature rises and precipitation is abundant, the plants become taller, the leaves are elongated, the midribs are short, and the cell wall are thinner. When solar radiation increases, the angle of leaf inclination on the stem decreases. The results also showed that the environmental factors that have a significant impact on the growth of D. constrictus, including annual mean air temperature, annual precipitation, and solar radiation. The response of plant height, area of leaf, and angle of leaf to environmental changes is relatively sensitive, while at the cellular level, area of leaf cell and cell wall thickness are preferred as measurement indicators. We consider that plant height, leaf area and leaf inclination are more sensitive to environmental changes, while leaf cell area and cell wall thickness are preferred as measures at the cellular level. In summary, the various morphological traits of moss plants are closely related and moss plants respond synergistically to environmental changes through combined changes.

Key words: Didymodon constrictus, morphological features of bryophytes, environmental factor, response strategy, Xizang

WANG Li-Li, SONG Xiao-Tong, GU Ji-Qi, SHAO Xiao-Ming. Relationship between morphological characteristics of Didymodon constrictus and environmental changes in Xizang and its response strategies[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2024, 48(10): 1351-1360.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.17521/cjpe.2023.0116

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2024/V48/I10/1351

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 Specimens (A) and sampling sites (B) of Didymodon constrictus.

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of morphological characteristics measurement of Didymodon constrictus in Xizang. A, Leaf. B, Leaf middle cell. C, Leaf base cell. ①, length of leaf; ②, width of leaf; ③, length of rib; ④, width of rib; ⑤, length of leaf middle cell cavity; ⑥, width of leaf middle cell cavity; ⑦, length of leaf bas cell cavity; ⑧, width of leaf bas cell cavity.

Table 1 Morphological characteristics at plant and leaf levels of Didymodon constrictus in Xizang

形态属性 Morphological trait	样本量 Sample size	极小值 Minimum	极大值 Maximum	平均值 Mean	标准误 Standard error	标准差 Standard deviation	变异系数 Coefficient of variation (%)	可塑性指数 Plasticity index
s_leaf	77	0.172	0.622	0.372	0.011	0.097	26.15	0.723
height	77	0.170	0.540	0.300	0.009	0.076	25.39	0.685
l_leaf	77	0.862	1.765	1.339	0.023	0.203	15.12	0.512
l_rib	77	0.908	1.858	1.436	0.024	0.214	14.91	0.511
d_rib	77	0.040	0.079	0.057	0.001	0.009	15.00	0.494
d_leaf	77	0.423	0.748	0.562	0.008	0.073	12.93	0.434
a_leaf	77	31.780	55.380	42.139	0.601	5.273	12.51	0.426
l/d_leaf	77	1.719	2.919	2.387	0.029	0.253	10.61	0.411

Table 2 Morphological traits of leaf cells of Didymodon constrictus in Xizang

形态属性 Morphological trait	样本量 Sample size	极小值 Minimum	极大值 Maximum	平均值 Mean	标准误 Standard error	标准差 Standard deviation	变异系数 Coefficient of variation (%)	可塑性指数 Plasticity index
s_mid	77	56.282	190.631	92.794	2.818	24.730	26.65	0.705
s_bas	77	87.021	289.856	131.243	4.423	38.816	29.58	0.700
cwt_bas	77	0.281	0.697	0.502	0.009	0.079	15.67	0.597
cwt_mid	77	0.277	0.656	0.451	0.009	0.076	16.79	0.578
l/d_bas	77	1.210	2.467	1.630	0.027	0.235	14.39	0.510
d_bas	77	7.069	14.056	8.938	0.143	1.259	14.09	0.497
l_bas	77	10.858	21.526	14.488	0.282	2.471	17.06	0.496
d_mid	77	6.576	12.754	8.471	0.122	1.074	12.68	0.484
l_mid	77	8.555	15.811	10.809	0.169	1.486	13.74	0.459
l/d_mid	77	1.055	1.579	1.279	0.013	0.114	8.88	0.332

Fig. 3 Pearson correlation analysis of leaf-level indicators of Didymodon constrictus and environmental factors in Xizang. AI, aridity index; K, humidity; Light, solar radiation; NDVI, normalized difference vegetation index; PET, potential evapotranspiration; Pysum, annual precipitation; Substrate, soil matrix; Tymean, annual mean air temperature; morphological indicators are the same as Table 1. The indicators within the blue dashed box participate in the analysis.

Fig. 4 Pearson correlation analysis of cell-level indicators of Didymodon constrictus and environmental factors in Xizang. AI, aridity index; K, humidity; Light, solar radiation; NDVI, normalized difference vegetation index; PET, potential evapotranspiration; Pysum, annual precipitation; Substrate, soil matrix; Tymean, annual mean air temperature; morphological indicators are the same as Table 2. The indicators within the blue dashed box participate in the analysis.

Fig. 5 Redundancy analysis (RDA) of morphological characteristics of Didymodon constrictus under different environmental conditions. AI, aridity index; Light, solar radiation; NDVI, normalized difference vegetation index; PET, potential evapotranspiration; Pysum, annual precipitation; Substrate, soil matrix; Tymean, annual mean air temperature; morphological indicators are the same as Table 1 and Table 2.

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