Intraspecific variability of leaf traits and functional strategy of Himantoglossum adriaticum H. Baumann

Mattia Baltieri,Silvia Del Vecchio,Gabriella Buffa,Edy Fantinato

doi:10.3897/pls2020572/03

Abstract

Trait-based studies have become extremely common in plant ecology. In this work we analysed intraspecific trait variation of Himantoglossum adriaticum, a European endemic orchid species of Community interest, to investigate whether different populations growing on managed and abandoned semi-natural dry grasslands show differences in the CSR strategy. In seven populations occurring in Veneto Region (NE Italy), we measured H. adriaticum maximum vegetative height, leaf traits (LA, LDMC, SLA) and calculated the CSR strategy. Through CCA we investigated the relationship between plant traits and both plant community attributes (cover and height of herbs and shrubs), and geomorphologic features (aspects and slope). PERMANOVA test was used to investigate if the CSR strategy of H. adriaticum varied according to the management regime. Results showed that individuals of H. adriaticum develop different strategies when growing in different habitats. Specifically, individuals growing in managed fully sunny dry grasslands reached higher vegetative height (MH), had lower values of SLA and a higher relative contribution of the C parameter than individuals growing in abandoned dry grasslands, which, on the contrary, were shorter, had higher values of SLA (and correspondingly lower values of LDMC) and a higher relative contribution of the R parameter. Further data on reproductive traits (e.g. fruit and seed-set) may corroborate our results. Although the number of individuals addressed in this study is rather low, and our conclusions may not be considered of general validity for the species, our study demonstrated the applicability of the CSR strategy scheme in detecting functional strategies at intraspecific level.

Highlights

Trait-based studies have become extremely common in plant ecology (Chelli et al 2019)
Plant traits have been proved to vary with e.g. environmental conditions (Tautenhahn et al 2008; Garnier and Navas 2012; Ivanova et al 2019), land-use (Purschke et al 2013; Duflot et al 2014), and species distributions (Violle et al 2014) suggesting that traits reflect the strategies plants use to cope with the environment and directly influence species interactions and the properties of com
In light of the above, this study aims at investigating whether populations of the Adriatic Lizard Orchid

Summary

Introduction

Trait-based studies have become extremely common in plant ecology (Chelli et al 2019). This conceptual framework implies describing species through their biological characteristics by measuring suites of traits, i.e. features measurable at the individual level, that are assumed to impact plant fitness and survival (Pierce et al 2017), either directly or indirectly (Violle et al 2007). Plant traits have been proved to vary with e.g. environmental conditions (Tautenhahn et al 2008; Garnier and Navas 2012; Ivanova et al 2019), land-use (Purschke et al 2013; Duflot et al 2014), and species distributions (Violle et al 2014) suggesting that traits reflect the strategies plants use to cope with the environment and directly influence species interactions and the properties of com-.

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