Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology >
Effect of altitude on community-level plant functional traits in the Qinghai Lake Basin, China
Received date: 2020-05-11
Accepted date: 2020-08-23
Online published: 2021-01-05
Supported by
the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41730854)
Aims Altitude has prominent effects on many environmental factors, such as atmospheric pressure, temperature, precipitation, soil moisture and wind velocity. The relationship between plant functional traits and altitude are critical for predicting the effects of climate change on montane plants. Our objective is to examine the effect of altitude on community-level plant functional traits in the Qinghai Lake Basin, China.
Methods Five sites were selected with 200 m increase in altitude (3 400-4 200 m) in the Qinghai Lake Basin, China. Community structure, plant functional traits, soil property and atmospheric factors were surveyed and analyzed in this study. Community-weighted mean functional traits (CWM) was calculated according to the relative abundance of species.
Important findings The results showed that: (1) Community-weighted mean plant height (H), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf C:N ratio (C:N) and leaf N:P ratio (N:P) decreased significantly along altitude, while specific root surface area (SRA) fluctuated with altitude. Specific leaf area (SLA), leaf nitrogen content (LNC) and leaf phosphorus content (LPC) increased significantly along altitude, while altitude had no significant effect on leaf carbon content (LCC), root tissue density (RTD) and specific root length (SRL). (2) The variation in CWM along altitude could be explained by species turnover more rather than intraspecific variability. N:P and LPC had a positive covariation, other CWM had a negative covariation. (3) Precipitation and 0-10 cm depth soil nutrients content explained the largest proportion change of SLA. Temperature and 10-20 cm depth soil nutrients content explained the largest proportion change of other CWM along altitude. Overall, these findings suggested that the plant communities in our study adapted to altitude through species turnover, and the non-dominant species tended to occupy opposite trait spaces to the dominant species in the Qinghai Lake Basin, China. Temperature and deeper soil nutrients content had significant effects on CWM along altitude.
XIANG Xiang, HUANG Yong-Mei, YANG Chong-Yao, LI Ze-Qing, CHEN Hui-Ying, PAN Ying-Ping, HUO Jia-Xuan, REN Liang . Effect of altitude on community-level plant functional traits in the Qinghai Lake Basin, China[J]. Chinese Journal of Plant Ecology, 2021 , 45(5) : 456 -466 . DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2020.0140
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