Leaf traits divergence and correlations of woody plants among the three plant functional types on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

Hongshuang Xing; Zuomin Shi; Shun Liu; Miao Chen; Gexi Xu; Xiangwen Cao; Miaomiao Zhang; Jian Chen; Feifan Li

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1128227

Leaf traits divergence and correlations of woody plants among the three plant functional types on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Apr 3:14:1128227. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1128227. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Hongshuang Xing¹, Zuomin Shi^{1

2

3}, Shun Liu¹, Miao Chen¹, Gexi Xu¹, Xiangwen Cao¹, Miaomiao Zhang¹, Jian Chen¹, Feifan Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Ecology and Nature Conservation Institute, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China.
² Miyaluo Research Station of Alpine Forest Ecosystem, Lixian, China.
³ Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China.

Abstract

Leaf traits are important indicators of plant life history and may vary according to plant functional type (PFT) and environmental conditions. In this study, we sampled woody plants from three PFTs (e.g., needle-leaved evergreens, NE; broad-leaved evergreens, BE; broad-leaved deciduous, BD) on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and 110 species were collected across 50 sites. Here, the divergence and correlations of leaf traits in three PFTs and relationships between leaf traits and environment were studied. The results showed significant differences in leaf traits among three PFTs, with NE plants showed higher values than BE plants and BD plants for leaf thickness (LT), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf dry mass per area (LMA), carbon: nitrogen ratio (C/N), and nitrogen content per unit area (N_area), except for nitrogen content per unit mass (N_mass). Although the correlations between leaf traits were similar across three PFTs, NE plants differed from BE plants and BD plants in the relationship between C/N and N_area. Compared with the mean annual precipitation (MAP), the mean annual temperature (MAT) was the main environmental factor that caused the difference in leaf traits among three PFTs. NE plants had a more conservative approach to survival compared to BE plants and BD plants. This study shed light on the regional-scale variation in leaf traits and the relationships among leaf traits, PFT, and environment. These findings have important implications for the development of regional-scale dynamic vegetation models and for understanding how plants respond and adapt to environmental change.

Keywords: climate; elevation; leaf trait; plant functional type; survival strategy.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Fundamental Research Fund of the Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAFYBB2021ZA002-2, CAFYBB2018ZA003) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32171506)