Qinghai University Medical College, Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Research for Glucolipid Metabolic Diseases, Xi'ning, China.
College of Agronomy, Gansu Provincial Key Laboratory of Aridland Crop Science, Gansu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic & Germplasm Enhancement, Gansu Provincial Key Lab of Good Agricultural Production for Traditional Chinese Medicines, Gansu Provincial Engineering Research Centre for Medical Plant Cultivation and Breeding, College of Life Science and Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China.
PLoS One. 2020 Oct 5;15(10):e0239427. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0239427. eCollection 2020.
Plants adapt to high altitudes by adjusting the characteristics of their above and underground organs. Identifying the species-specific plant traits changed in response to altitude is essential for understanding ecophysiological processes at the ecosystem level. Multiple studies analyzed the effects of altitude on above and underground organ traits in different species. Yet, little is known about those responses in the alpine Fritillaria przewalskii Maxim. (Liliaceae). F. przewalskii is a perennial medicinal plant with meager annual growth and vanishing wild populations. We analyzed leaf and bulb functional traits, and their allometric relationships in F. przewalskii plants grown at three altitudes: 3000, 2700, and 2400 m. Leaf thickness, leaf biomass, leaf biomass allocation, and the aboveground:underground ratio increased significantly with increasing altitude. Conversely, bulb allocation decreased at higher altitudes. The altitude influenced the allometric growth trajectories of specific leaf and bulb traits: higher altitudes led to thicker and broader leaves and changed the shape of the bulbs from more circular, which is ideal (at 2700 m), to more elongated (at 3000 m). Those variations had remarkable ecological significance. Hence, bulb biomass is the largest at 2700 m of altitude for which their vertical and longitudinal ratio is unaffected. which is economically favorable. Our findings show that F. przewalskii has a notable potential of growth and morphological plasticity along the altitude gradient and that 2700 m might be ideal for developing its artificial cultivation.
植物通过调整地上和地下器官的特征来适应高海拔环境。鉴定出对海拔变化做出响应的物种特异性植物特征对于理解生态系统水平的生理生态过程至关重要。多项研究分析了海拔对不同物种地上和地下器官特征的影响。然而，对于高山贝母（百合科）这种植物在高海拔环境下的响应，我们知之甚少。高山贝母是一种多年生药用植物，年生长量很少，野生种群正在消失。我们分析了在三个海拔高度（3000、2700 和 2400 米）生长的高山贝母植株的叶片和鳞茎功能特征及其比例关系。叶片厚度、叶片生物量、叶片生物量分配和地上部分与地下部分的比例随着海拔的升高而显著增加。相反，鳞茎分配在较高的海拔高度下降。海拔影响了特定叶片和鳞茎特征的比例生长轨迹：较高的海拔导致叶片更厚、更宽，并且改变了鳞茎的形状，从理想的（在 2700 米）更圆，变成更长（在 3000 米）。这些变化具有显著的生态意义。因此，鳞茎生物量在海拔 2700 米处最大，其垂直和纵向比例不受影响，这在经济上是有利的。我们的研究结果表明，高山贝母在海拔梯度上具有显著的生长和形态可塑性潜力，2700 米可能是其人工栽培的理想海拔。
