Variation in leaf functional traits of the Korean maple (Acer pseudosieboldianum) along an elevational gradient in a montane forest in Southern Korea

Ki Jung Nam,Eun Ju Lee

doi:10.1186/s41610-018-0096-x

Ki Jung Nam, Eun Ju Lee

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s41610-018-0096-x

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Abstract

Plant functional traits have been shown to be useful to understand how and why ecosystems and their components vary across environmental heterogeneity or gradients. This study investigated how plant functional (leaf) traits vary according to an elevation-associated environmental gradient. Environmental gradients (mean annual temperature and precipitation) were quantified, and leaf traits (leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf nitrogen, leaf phosphorus, leaf carbon, and leaf C/N ratio) of the understory woody plant species Acer pseudosieboldianum were examined across an elevational gradient ranging from 600 to 1200 m in a Baegunsan Mountain in Gwangyang-si, Jeollanam-do, South Korea. The results showed that mean annual temperature and precipitation decreased and increased along with elevation, respectively. Leaf area of the plant species decreased slightly with increasing elevation, while specific leaf area did not differ significantly. Leaf nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon concentrations) were higher at high elevations, but leaf C/N ratio decreased with elevation.

Highlights

Plant functional traits have been shown to be useful to understand how and why ecosystems and their components vary across environmental heterogeneity or gradients
It is often considered that community assembly is determined by environmental filtering and the survival of a species through the filtering is largely related to functional characteristics or traits of the species (Hulshof and Swenson 2010)
Similar results have been reported in He et al (2016) in which they speculated that nonlinear relationship between soil P and elevation may be caused by nonlinear changes in soil water content, pH, P sorption capacity, and interactions among microclimate, topography, and vegetation

Summary

Introduction

Plant functional traits have been shown to be useful to understand how and why ecosystems and their components vary across environmental heterogeneity or gradients. Backgrounds Plant “functional traits,” which are individual’s morphological or physiological features relevant to survival, growth, and reproduction, are considered primary drivers of species interaction, community assembly, and species diversity (Roscher et al 2012; Kunstler et al 2015). It is often considered that community assembly is determined by environmental filtering and the survival of a species through the filtering is largely related to functional characteristics or traits of the species (Hulshof and Swenson 2010) These functional traits are considered as useful proxies to understand how and why ecosystems and their components vary across environmental heterogeneity or gradients (Garnier and Navas 2011). Performance-related foliar plant traits are thought to be highly sensitive to climatic environments and may co-vary with climatic variation associated with elevational gradient (Pratt and Mooney 2013; Read et al 2014)

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