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Bulletin of Botanical Research ›› 2019, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (5): 760-769.doi: 10.7525/j.issn.1673-5102.2019.05.015

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Functional Traits of Plant Leaves at Different Succession Stages in Alpine Meadow

LIU Min-Xia, LI Li-Rong, CHE Ying-Di, JIAO Jiao   

  1. College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070
  • Received:2019-01-05 Online:2019-09-05 Published:2019-07-16
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation Project(31760135,31360114)

Abstract: We studied the typical communities in five stages of alpine meadow succession in Gannan. The leaf functionaltraits of different succession stages in enclosed plots were compared, and the relationship between leaf characteristics of main species and environmental factors at community level in each succession stage were analyzed. The results showed that:(1)The enclosure formed a succession process from herbs to shrubs. As the succession progresses, Margalef index increased significantly and Shannon-Wiener index increased first and then decreased. (2)With the succession, soil organic carbon(SOC), soil total nitrogen(STN), soil water content(SWC) gradually increased, light intensity(LI), soil temperature(ST) gradually decreased, soil total phosphorus(STP) decreased first and then increased; leaf organic carbon(LCC), leaf total nitrogen(LNC), water content(LWC) gradually increased; specific leaf area(SLA), phosphorus utilization efficiency(PUPE) and stable carbon isotope(δ13C) decreased gradually, leaf total phosphorus(LPC) decreased first and then increased, while nitrogen use efficiency(PUNE) first increased and then decreased. (3)By RDA analysis, in the enclosed plot, leaf traits of plants communities in the early stage of succession were mainly restricted by LI and ST, and leaf traits of plants communities in the middle and late stages of succession were mainly restricted by SWC. The study of community succession and functional changes of plant leaves in enclosed areas will help us to understand the degradation of alpine meadow ecosystem and the decline of biodiversity, and to seek better methods of grassland restoration and reconstruction.

Key words: plant leaf functional traits, environmental factors, succession, alpine meadow

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