Varying Relationship Between Vascular Plant Leaf Area and Leaf Biomass Along an Elevational Gradient on the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
The altitudinal gradient is one of the driving factors leading to leaf trait variation. It is crucial to understand the response and adaptation strategies of plants to explore the variation of leaf traits and their scaling relationship along the altitudinal gradient. We measured six main leaf traits...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Plant Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.824461/full |
| _version_ | 1818915145154297856 |
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| author | Ketong Yang Guopeng Chen Junren Xian Weiwei Chen |
| author_facet | Ketong Yang Guopeng Chen Junren Xian Weiwei Chen |
| author_sort | Ketong Yang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The altitudinal gradient is one of the driving factors leading to leaf trait variation. It is crucial to understand the response and adaptation strategies of plants to explore the variation of leaf traits and their scaling relationship along the altitudinal gradient. We measured six main leaf traits of 257 woody species at 26 altitudes ranging from 1,050 to 3,500 m within the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and analyzed the scaling relationships among leaf fresh weight, leaf dry weight, and leaf area. The results showed that leaf dry weight increased significantly with elevation, while leaf fresh weight and leaf area showed a unimodal change. Leaf dry weight and fresh weight showed an allometric relationship, and leaf fresh weight increased faster than leaf dry weight. The scaling exponent of leaf area and leaf fresh weight (or dry weight) was significantly greater than 1, indicating that there have increasing returns for pooled data. For α and normalization constants (β), only β of leaf area vs. leaf fresh weight (or dry weight) had significantly increased with altitude. All three paired traits had positive linear relationships between α and β. Our findings suggest that plants adapt to altitudinal gradient by changing leaf area and biomass investment and coordinating scaling relationships among traits. But leaf traits variation had a minor effect on scaling exponent. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T23:57:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d8f6074d35754e068640e3b63d31add2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-462X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T23:57:37Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Plant Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-d8f6074d35754e068640e3b63d31add22022-12-21T20:00:58ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Plant Science1664-462X2022-04-011310.3389/fpls.2022.824461824461Varying Relationship Between Vascular Plant Leaf Area and Leaf Biomass Along an Elevational Gradient on the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet PlateauKetong Yang0Guopeng Chen1Junren Xian2Weiwei Chen3College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, ChinaCollege of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, ChinaCollege of Environmental Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, ChinaCollege of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, ChinaThe altitudinal gradient is one of the driving factors leading to leaf trait variation. It is crucial to understand the response and adaptation strategies of plants to explore the variation of leaf traits and their scaling relationship along the altitudinal gradient. We measured six main leaf traits of 257 woody species at 26 altitudes ranging from 1,050 to 3,500 m within the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and analyzed the scaling relationships among leaf fresh weight, leaf dry weight, and leaf area. The results showed that leaf dry weight increased significantly with elevation, while leaf fresh weight and leaf area showed a unimodal change. Leaf dry weight and fresh weight showed an allometric relationship, and leaf fresh weight increased faster than leaf dry weight. The scaling exponent of leaf area and leaf fresh weight (or dry weight) was significantly greater than 1, indicating that there have increasing returns for pooled data. For α and normalization constants (β), only β of leaf area vs. leaf fresh weight (or dry weight) had significantly increased with altitude. All three paired traits had positive linear relationships between α and β. Our findings suggest that plants adapt to altitudinal gradient by changing leaf area and biomass investment and coordinating scaling relationships among traits. But leaf traits variation had a minor effect on scaling exponent.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.824461/fullscaling relationshipleaf traitelevational gradientarid valleyalpine plant |
| spellingShingle | Ketong Yang Guopeng Chen Junren Xian Weiwei Chen Varying Relationship Between Vascular Plant Leaf Area and Leaf Biomass Along an Elevational Gradient on the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Frontiers in Plant Science scaling relationship leaf trait elevational gradient arid valley alpine plant |
| title | Varying Relationship Between Vascular Plant Leaf Area and Leaf Biomass Along an Elevational Gradient on the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau |
| title_full | Varying Relationship Between Vascular Plant Leaf Area and Leaf Biomass Along an Elevational Gradient on the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau |
| title_fullStr | Varying Relationship Between Vascular Plant Leaf Area and Leaf Biomass Along an Elevational Gradient on the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau |
| title_full_unstemmed | Varying Relationship Between Vascular Plant Leaf Area and Leaf Biomass Along an Elevational Gradient on the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau |
| title_short | Varying Relationship Between Vascular Plant Leaf Area and Leaf Biomass Along an Elevational Gradient on the Eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau |
| title_sort | varying relationship between vascular plant leaf area and leaf biomass along an elevational gradient on the eastern qinghai tibet plateau |
| topic | scaling relationship leaf trait elevational gradient arid valley alpine plant |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2022.824461/full |
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