Yao Luhua, Wang Dengke, Wang Dangjun, Li Shixiong, Chen Youjun, Guo Yanjun
College of Grassland Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China.
College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China.
Plants (Basel). 2021 Dec 31;11(1):120. doi: 10.3390/plants11010120.
Six perennial herbs (, , , , and ) widely distributed in alpine meadows were reciprocally transplanted at two sites in eastern edge of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, Hongyuan (3434 m, 2.97 °C, 911 mm) and Qilian (3701 m, 2.52 °C, 472 mm), aiming to evaluate the responses of alpine plants to changing environments. When plants were transplanted from Hongyuan to Qilian, most plant species showed a decrease of total wax coverage in first year and reverse trend was observed for some plant species in second year. However, when plants were transplanted from Qilian to Hongyuan, the response of total wax coverage differed greatly between plant species. When compared with those in first year, plasticity index of average chain length of alkane decreased whereas carbon preference index of alkane increased at both Hongyuan and Qilian in second year. The total wax coverage differed between local and transplanted plants, suggesting both environmental and genetic factors controlled the wax depositions. Structural equation modeling indicated that co-variations existed between leaf cuticular waxes and leaf functional traits. These results suggest that alpine herbs adjust both wax depositions and chain length distributions to adapt to changing environment, showing climate adaptations.
六种广泛分布于高寒草甸的多年生草本植物（、、、、和）在青藏高原东缘的两个地点——红原（海拔3434米，年均气温2.97℃，年降水量911毫米）和祁连（海拔3701米，年均气温2.52℃，年降水量472毫米）进行了相互移栽，旨在评估高山植物对环境变化的响应。当植物从红原移栽至祁连时，大多数植物物种在第一年总蜡质覆盖量下降，而一些植物物种在第二年出现相反趋势。然而，当植物从祁连移栽至红原时，不同植物物种的总蜡质覆盖量响应差异很大。与第一年相比，第二年红原和祁连两地烷烃平均链长的可塑性指数均下降，而烷烃碳偏好指数均上升。本地植物和移栽植物的总蜡质覆盖量存在差异，表明环境和遗传因素共同控制蜡质沉积。结构方程模型表明，叶片表皮蜡质与叶片功能性状之间存在共变关系。这些结果表明，高山草本植物通过调整蜡质沉积和链长分布来适应环境变化，展现出气候适应性。
