Studies on plant diversity are usually based on the total number of species in a community.However,few studies have examined species richness(SR)of different plant life forms in a community along largescale environmen...Studies on plant diversity are usually based on the total number of species in a community.However,few studies have examined species richness(SR)of different plant life forms in a community along largescale environmental gradients.Particularly,the relative importance(RIV)of different plant life forms in a community and how they vary with environmental variables are still unclear.To fill these gaps,we determined plant diversity of ephemeral plants,annual herbs,perennial herbs,and woody plants from 187 sites across drylands in China.The SR patterns of herbaceous plants,especially perennial herbs,and their RIV in plant communities increased with increasing precipitation and soil nutrient content;however,the RIV of annual herbs was not altered along these gradients.The SR and RIV of ephemeral plants were affected mainly by precipitation seasonality.The SR of woody plants had a unimodal relationship with air temperature and exhibited the highest RIV and SR percentage in plant communities under the harshest environments.An obvious shift emerged in plant community composition,SR and their critical impact factors at 238.5 mm of mean annual precipitation(MAP).In mesic regions(>238.5 mm),herbs were the dominant species,and the SR displayed a relatively slow decreasing rate with increasing aridity,which was mediated mainly by MAP and soil nutrients.In arid regions(<238.5 mm),woody plants were the dominant species,and the SR displayed a relatively fast decreasing rate with increasing aridity,which was mediated mainly by climate variables,especially precipitation.Our findings highlight the importance of comparative life form studies in community structure and biodiversity,as their responses to gradients differed substantially on a large scale.展开更多
Leaf functional traits play a pivotal role in understanding the adaptive strategy of plants in extreme environments, as well as in assessing their potential distribution range sizes and extinction risks under global c...Leaf functional traits play a pivotal role in understanding the adaptive strategy of plants in extreme environments, as well as in assessing their potential distribution range sizes and extinction risks under global climate change. However, the response of leaf functional traits to aridity in drylands remains unclear for plants with different range sizes. To fill this gap, we measured 10 leaf functional traits of 152 plant species across 172 dryland sites in China, and classified these species as either narrow-(NRS) or wide-ranging species(WRS) based on worldwide occurrence data. Our results showed that the NRS generally occurred in more severe arid areas, and had higher leaf water content(LWC) than WRS at high aridity levels(aridity>0.8). The scaling exponents between leaf volume(LV) and leaf dry weight(LDW) at high aridity levels were 1 for WRS and 1.56 for NRS, indicating that LV increased at a faster rate than LDW and therefore enabled NRS to store more water than WRS. Using moving window analysis, the above scaling exponents increased in NRS and decreased in WRS with increasing aridity at high aridity levels. Moreover, NRS with higher LWC tended to be more abundant at high aridity levels. Our results highlighted that NRS had higher LWC than WRS under high aridity, conferring them with a key advantage in adapting to extreme arid environments. These findings suggest that NRS and WRS use distinct adaptive strategies to cope with aridity. In the conservation of NRS in drylands, enhancing leaf water storage capacity is of particular importance.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2023YFF0805602)National Natural Science Foundation of China(32225032,32001192,32271597)+1 种基金the Innovation Base Project of Gansu Province(2021YFF0703904)the Science and Technology Program of Gansu Province(24JRRA515,22JR5RA525,23JRRA1157).
摘要Studies on plant diversity are usually based on the total number of species in a community.However,few studies have examined species richness(SR)of different plant life forms in a community along largescale environmental gradients.Particularly,the relative importance(RIV)of different plant life forms in a community and how they vary with environmental variables are still unclear.To fill these gaps,we determined plant diversity of ephemeral plants,annual herbs,perennial herbs,and woody plants from 187 sites across drylands in China.The SR patterns of herbaceous plants,especially perennial herbs,and their RIV in plant communities increased with increasing precipitation and soil nutrient content;however,the RIV of annual herbs was not altered along these gradients.The SR and RIV of ephemeral plants were affected mainly by precipitation seasonality.The SR of woody plants had a unimodal relationship with air temperature and exhibited the highest RIV and SR percentage in plant communities under the harshest environments.An obvious shift emerged in plant community composition,SR and their critical impact factors at 238.5 mm of mean annual precipitation(MAP).In mesic regions(>238.5 mm),herbs were the dominant species,and the SR displayed a relatively slow decreasing rate with increasing aridity,which was mediated mainly by MAP and soil nutrients.In arid regions(<238.5 mm),woody plants were the dominant species,and the SR displayed a relatively fast decreasing rate with increasing aridity,which was mediated mainly by climate variables,especially precipitation.Our findings highlight the importance of comparative life form studies in community structure and biodiversity,as their responses to gradients differed substantially on a large scale.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFF0805600)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32225032, 31901087, 32001192)+3 种基金the Innovation Base Project (2021YFF0703904)Major Science and Technology Special Projects (23ZDKA0010, 23ZDNA009) of Gansu ProvinceNatural Science Foundation of Gansu Province (21JR1RA138, 22JR5RA525, 23JRRA1157)supported by the Guazhou Desert Ecosystem Field Observation Research Station。
摘要Leaf functional traits play a pivotal role in understanding the adaptive strategy of plants in extreme environments, as well as in assessing their potential distribution range sizes and extinction risks under global climate change. However, the response of leaf functional traits to aridity in drylands remains unclear for plants with different range sizes. To fill this gap, we measured 10 leaf functional traits of 152 plant species across 172 dryland sites in China, and classified these species as either narrow-(NRS) or wide-ranging species(WRS) based on worldwide occurrence data. Our results showed that the NRS generally occurred in more severe arid areas, and had higher leaf water content(LWC) than WRS at high aridity levels(aridity>0.8). The scaling exponents between leaf volume(LV) and leaf dry weight(LDW) at high aridity levels were 1 for WRS and 1.56 for NRS, indicating that LV increased at a faster rate than LDW and therefore enabled NRS to store more water than WRS. Using moving window analysis, the above scaling exponents increased in NRS and decreased in WRS with increasing aridity at high aridity levels. Moreover, NRS with higher LWC tended to be more abundant at high aridity levels. Our results highlighted that NRS had higher LWC than WRS under high aridity, conferring them with a key advantage in adapting to extreme arid environments. These findings suggest that NRS and WRS use distinct adaptive strategies to cope with aridity. In the conservation of NRS in drylands, enhancing leaf water storage capacity is of particular importance.