Abstract
Understanding how plant trait-species abundance relationships change with a range of single and multivariate environmental properties is crucial for explaining species abundance and rarity. In this study, the abundance of 94 woody plant species was examined and related to 15 plant leaf and wood traits at both local and landscape scales involving 31 plots in subtropical forests in eastern China. Further, plant trait-species abundance relationships were related to a range of single and multivariate (PCA axes) environmental properties such as air humidity, soil moisture content, soil temperature, soil pH, and soil organic matter, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents. At the landscape scale, plant maximum height, and twig and stem wood densities were positively correlated, whereas mean leaf area (MLA), leaf N concentration (LN), and total leaf area per twig size (TLA) were negatively correlated with species abundance. At the plot scale, plant maximum height, leaf and twig dry matter contents, twig and stem wood densities were positively correlated, but MLA, specific leaf area, LN, leaf P concentration and TLA were negatively correlated with species abundance. Plant trait-species abundance relationships shifted over the range of seven single environmental properties and along multivariate environmental axes in a similar way. In conclusion, strong relationships between plant traits and species abundance existed among and within communities. Significant shifts in plant trait-species abundance relationships in a range of environmental properties suggest strong environmental filtering processes that influence species abundance and rarity in the studied subtropical forests.
Highlights
Understanding factors affecting the distribution of plant species along environmental gradients is one of the central focuses in ecology
LDMC in both mature and current year leaves, TDMC, TWD and stem wood density (SWD) were positively correlated with species abundance
mean leaf area (MLA), SLA, leaf N concentrations in both mature and current year leaves, P concentration in current year leaves, and TLA were negatively correlated with species abundance
Summary
Understanding factors affecting the distribution of plant species along environmental gradients is one of the central focuses in ecology. There is emerging evidence showing trait-based patterns of species presence or absence across communities [19,20,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30]. All of these empirical studies suggest that plant distribution patterns along environmental gradients reflect a functional trait-based principle that structures ecological communities, because the distribution of species is expected to be determined by the availability of resources. The variability of plant trait-species abundance relationships along a range of environmental properties should be predictable
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