Centre for Biodiversity & Taxonomy, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190006, Jammu and Kashmir, India; Plant Reproductive Biology, Genetic Diversity and Phytochemistry Research Laboratory, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190006, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Centre for Biodiversity & Taxonomy, Department of Botany, University of Kashmir, Srinagar 190006, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
Sci Total Environ. 2024 Jan 1;906:167274. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167274. Epub 2023 Sep 21.
Compression of life zones along elevational gradients in mountains supports diverse vegetation types, and therefore offers ideal setting to study plant functional traits. Functional traits, the features that enable plants to live in varied environmental conditions, help in understanding ecological interactions, evolutionary adaptations, and predicting plant response to global change drivers. To date, little is known how the trait diversity varies across different growth forms and vegetation zones in mountains. Here, we aimed to investigate interspecific leaf trait variability among different growth forms and vegetation zones along a wide elevation gradient (2000-4200 m) in Kashmir Himalaya. We measured leaf functional traits (specific leaf area-SLA, leaf thickness - LT, leaf dry matter content -LDMC) of 76 plant species corresponding to three growth forms (trees, shrubs and herbs) and three vegetation zones (Himalayan dry temperate forests, subalpine forests and alpine grasslands). Our results revealed high trait variability across the regional species pool studied. We found significant variation in leaf functional traits among the different growth forms, with higher values of LT and LDMC recorded for woody species than herbaceous ones. Among different vegetation zones, the SLA was found to be significantly higher at lower to middle elevations, while the other leaf traits (LT and LDMC) showed an opposite trend. Across all the vegetative zones, we also found a negative correlation between SLA and the other leaf traits, and the latter showed a positive trait-trait correlation. Overall, our study contributes to a deeper understanding of trait-trait, trait-growth form and trait-vegetation zone relationships. Our findings suggest that the variation in leaf functional traits among different growth forms seems to be a trade-off mechanism between resource acquisition and leaf construction, and also help in identifying species' adaptive functional traits that are critical for plant survival in the face of ongoing climate change in the Himalaya.
沿山脉海拔梯度的生活带压缩支持多种植被类型，因此为研究植物功能特性提供了理想的环境。功能特征是使植物能够在不同环境条件下生存的特征，有助于理解生态相互作用、进化适应以及预测植物对全球变化驱动因素的反应。迄今为止，人们对不同生长形式和山地植被带的特征多样性如何变化知之甚少。在这里，我们旨在调查克什米尔喜马拉雅山脉宽海拔梯度（2000-4200 米）内不同生长形式和植被带之间的种间叶片特征变异性。我们测量了 76 种植物的叶片功能特性（比叶面积-SLA、叶片厚度-LT、叶片干物质含量-LDMC），这些植物对应三种生长形式（乔木、灌木和草本植物）和三种植被带（喜马拉雅干温带森林、亚高山森林和高山草原）。我们的结果表明，在所研究的区域物种库中存在高度的特征变异性。我们发现不同生长形式的叶片功能特性存在显著差异，木质物种的 LT 和 LDMC 值高于草本物种。在不同的植被带中，SLA 在较低到中等海拔高度显著较高，而其他叶片特征（LT 和 LDMC）则呈现相反的趋势。在所有的植被带中，我们还发现 SLA 与其他叶片特征之间存在负相关，而后者表现出正的特征-特征相关性。总的来说，我们的研究有助于更深入地了解特征-特征、特征-生长形式和特征-植被带之间的关系。我们的研究结果表明，不同生长形式之间的叶片功能特征差异似乎是资源获取和叶片结构之间的一种权衡机制，同时也有助于确定在喜马拉雅山持续气候变化背景下对植物生存至关重要的物种适应性功能特征。
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