Trait plasticity, not values, best corresponds with woodland plant success in novel and manipulated habitats  

作　　者：Robert J.Warren II Jeffrey K.Lake 

机构地区：[1]Department of Biology,SUNY Buffalo State,1300 Elmwood Avenue,Buffalo,NY 14222,USA [2]Department of Biology,Adrian College,Adrian,MI,49221,USA

出　　处：《Journal of Plant Ecology》2013年第3期201-210,共10页植物生态学报（英文版）

基　　金：National Science Foundation(DEB-0235371 to H.Ronald Pulliam);the Coweeta LTER programme(DEB-9632854 and DEB-0218001).

摘　　要：Aims The clustering of plants with similar leaf traits along environmental gradients may arise from adaptation as well as acclimation to het-erogeneous habitat conditions.Determining the forces that shape plant leaf traits requires both linking variation in trait morphology with abiotic gradients and linking that trait variation with plant per-formance under varying abiotic conditions.across the spectrum of plant types,shade-tolerant evergreen herbs are relatively low in trait plasticity,compared to deciduous and sun-adapted species.These plants employ stress-tolerant strategies for survival,which coincide with relatively static trait morphologies,slow growth and hence a lower ability to adjust to changing environmental conditions.Methods We investigate how the survival of two ecologically similar under-story evergreen species,Asarum arifolium and Hepatica nobilis,cor-responds with variation in six commonly measured functional traits(leaf area,specific leaf area,plant height,leaf number,leaf length and shoot mass)along natural and experimental abiotic gradients.We examine temporal(the period 2007-9)and spatial(100 km)variations in these traits after(i)translocating 576 plants across a span from the southerm Appalachian Mountains in NC,USA,to the Piedmont,GA,USA,which includes north-and south-facing slope habitats and(ii)the experimental manipulation of diffuse light and soil moisture.Important findings We find that when translocated into a novel habitats,with novel environmental conditions that often are more extreme than the source habitat,both species appear capable of considerable mor-phological acclimation and generally converge to similar trait values.Hepatica nobilis does not exhibit mean trait values particu-larly different from those of A.arifolium,but it demonstrates much greater phenotypic plasticity.These results indicate that relatively conservative plant species nonetheless acclimate and survive across heterogeneous environmental conditions.

关 键 词：Functional traits Asarum arifolium Hepatica nobilis NICHE specific leaf area UNDERSTORY 

分 类 号：Q94[生物学—植物学]