The relationship between plant functional traits and soil physicochemical properties in alpine meadows in Northwestern Yunnan Province, China

doi:10.11686/cyxb2019473

Abstract

Abstract: The adaptability and distribution of plant species, the process of the construction of plant communities and the function of an ecosystem can be discussed according to the relationship between plant traits and the plant environment. This research sought to link the variation in plant functional traits, the key soil factors that affect plant functional traits and plant functional traits that show a plastic response to soil factors, using data from different categories of alpine meadow in Northwestern Yunnan Province (NYP). Four categories of typical meadow (hydric, mesic, xeric and forest margin meadow) were selected for study, to explore the relationship between plant functional traits and soil properties using RLQ and Fourth-Corner methods. The results showed that: 1) The content of soil total nitrogen increased, while the soil bulk density and C∶N ratio decreased as the soil moisture increased. 2) Most plants were geocryptophytes in alpine meadows and the specific leaf area was negatively correlated with dry matter of the leaf. There were no systematic significant differences in specific leaf area among these four types of alpine meadows. Mesic meadow plants tended to adopt the strategy of single seed breeding, but plants in the other three meadow categories tended to adopt a multiple-seed breeding strategy. 3) The key soil factors that affected community functional traits were soil pH, soil total nitrogen and soil bulk density for the mesic meadow, soil bulk density for the xeric meadow, and soil C∶N ratio for the forest marginal meadow. 4) Key soil factors that affected plant functional traits were soil pH, soil total nitrogen and soil moisture for the mesic meadow, and soil pH, soil total nitrogen, soil bulk density and soil moisture for the xeric meadow. 5) The specific leaf area and life form were the plastic traits of plants which respond sensitively to soil factors in the mesic meadow, while the leaf length∶width ratio, growth form, life form and reproductive strategy were the plastic traits for plants in the xeric meadow.

Key words: plant functional trait, physicochemical properties of soil, RLQ analysis, Fourth-Corner, alpine meadow

WANG Xiu-yu, HUANG Xiao-xia, HE Ke-jian, SUN Xiao-neng, LÜZENG Zhe-zhou, ZHANG Yong, ZHU Mei, ZENG Rui-qin. The relationship between plant functional traits and soil physicochemical properties in alpine meadows in Northwestern Yunnan Province, China[J]. Acta Prataculturae Sinica, 2020, 29(8): 6-17.

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