The island rule-like patterns of plant size variation in a young landbridge archipelago:Roles of environmental circumstance and biotic competition  

作　　者：Zengke Zhang Wensheng Chen Zengyan Li Wentao Ren Ling Mou Junyong Zheng Tian Zhang Hantang Qin Liyi Zhou Bile Sai Hang Ci Yongchuan Yang Shekhar RBiswas Enrong Yan 

机构地区：[1]Zhejiang Zhoushan Island Ecosystem Observation and Research Station,and Zhejiang Tiantong Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station,School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences,East China Normal University,Shanghai 200241,China [2]Institute of Eco-Chongming(IEC),3663 N.Zhongshan Rd.,Shanghai 200062,China [3]Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environment,Ministry of Education,Chongqing University,Chongqing 400030,China

出　　处：《Plant Diversity》2025年第2期300-310,共11页植物多样性(英文版)

基　　金：supported by the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.32030068);the“Lump-sum System”Project of Chongqing Talent Plan(Grant No.cstc2022ycjh-bgzxm0204).

摘　　要：The island rule,a general pattern of dwarfism in large species to gigantism in small species on islands relative to mainland,is typically seen as a macroevolutionary phenomenon.However,whether the ecological processes associated with abiotic and biotic factors generate a pattern of plant size variation similar to the island rule remains unknown.We measured plant height for 29,623 individuals of 50 common woody plant species across 43 islands in the Zhoushan Archipelago(8500 years old and yet to undergo major evolutionary adaptation)and the adjacent mainlands in China.We found pronounced variations in plant height,similar to those of the island rule.Interestingly,islands with low resource availability,such as low soil organic matter content and low precipitation,had a high degree of dwarfism;islands experiencing high environmental stress,such as high soil pH,had a high degree of dwarfism;and islands experiencing less planteplant competition had a high degree of gigantism.The magnitude of plant dwarfism was higher on small and remote islands than on larger and nearer islands.These results highlight the importance of ecological processes associated with abiotic and biotic conditions in shaping the island rule-like patterns of plant size variation.Since our studied archipelago is too young to undergo major evolution,ecological processes likely played a prominent role in generating the observed pattern,challenging the notion that the evolutionary process is the dominant factor underlying the island rule.Future studies on the island rule need to perform experiments to disentangle evolutionary from ecological mechanisms.

关 键 词：Insular dwarfism and gigantism Island biogeography The environmental stress hypothesis The reduced herbivory hypothesis The relaxed competition hypothesis The resource availability hypothesis 

分 类 号：P73[天文地球—海洋科学]