Abstract
AbstractAimsUnderstanding variation and coordination of leaf traits at multiscales along elevational gradients can help predict the likely responses of dominant species to climate change. We seek to determine the extent to which variation in leaf stomatal, anatomical and morphological traits is associated with environmental factors, and whether ecological strategies of Cyclobalanopsis species shift with elevations.MethodsIn a tropical forest landscape in Jianfengling, South China, we determined leaf traits related to stomata, anatomy and morphology of six evergreen oak species (Cyclobalanopsis bambusaefolia, C. hui, C. patelliformis, C. fleuryi, C. tiaoloshanica and C. phanera) along a long elevational gradient (400–1400 m above sea level).Important FindingsWe found that stomatal density and stomatal pore index increased, whereas spongy mesophyll thickness to leaf thickness ratios decreased, significantly with elevation. The leaf area and leaf dry matter content increased and decreased, respectively, with elevation. Variations in stomatal, anatomical and morphological traits were mainly correlated to the mean annual temperature, mean annual sum precipitation and soil pH. At low and high elevations, the oak species exhibited strong stress tolerance combined with competition strategy, while they shifted toward more clearly the competitive strategy at intermediate elevations. And the changes in soil phosphorus concentration and soil pH along the elevation may drive the shift of ecological strategy. The results showed that the dominant oak species in tropical forests respond to environmental change by modulating traits at multiple levels, from that of the individual cell, through tissue and up to the whole leaf scale.
Highlights
Anthropogenic climate change is already well underway, as indicated by an average global temperate increase of >1.0 °C over the past century (MassonDelmotte et al 2018), and by widespread changes in precipitation regimes (e.g. Greve et al 2014)
The C. bambusaefolia tends to coexist with C. hui, C. phanera, C. fleuryi and C. patelliformis along the elevational gradient except for high elevation, whereas only C. tiaoloshanica inhabits the highest elevations (Fig. 2)
Correlations between leaf traits and environmental variables Most of the measured leaf traits were significantly correlated with climate and soil variables along the elevational gradient (Table 1)
Summary
Anthropogenic climate change is already well underway, as indicated by an average global temperate increase of >1.0 °C over the past century (MassonDelmotte et al 2018), and by widespread changes in precipitation regimes (e.g. Greve et al 2014). Elevational gradients provide potentiality for understanding and predicting how plant species respond to future climate change (Matías et al 2017; Sundqvist et al 2013). Plant leaf traits at the cell level (e.g. stomatal traits), tissue level (e.g. anatomical traits) and organ level (morphological traits) may be especially informative in relation to climate as they reflect aspects of carbon acquisition, water use and gaseous exchange (Baillie and Fleming 2020; Lambers and Poorter 1992; Liu et al 2019). Understanding the variation and coordination of leaf traits at cell-, tissue- and organ scale can help predict the responses of plants to climate change. There is little research concerning leaf traits at such multiple scales along elevational gradients where climatic and edaphic variables vary
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