Song Xinrui, Liu Ying, Yu Dongli, Li Shuting, Gao Wuchao, Zeng Hong, Cao Dongyu, Zhou Shixing, Cui Xinglei
National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River and Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2024 Dec 11;15:1501584. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1501584. eCollection 2024.
Franch. is a native species in southwestern China, characterized by high polymorphism. However, the environmental drivers of intraspecific variation in its functional traits remain poorly understood. In this study, we examined the relationships between five functional traits (bark thickness, tree height, leaf dry matter content, leaf length, and specific leaf area) and habitat conditions across 20 populations, representing three varieties: var. (the original variety), var. , and var. . Our experiments aimed to determine whether the functional traits varied among the three varieties under different environmental conditions. As specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content showed no significant correlations with any environmental factors, we focused our analysis on the remaining three traits. Using random forest models, we assessed the significance of each environmental factor and found the following: Temperature seasonality was a key determinant of tree height; soil particle size (clay and sand) had the strongest influence on bark thickness; and for leaf length, precipitation during the driest quarter was the most important factor. These findings offer insights into the variation in functional traits of and enhance our understanding of its adaptation to diverse environments.
滇藏方枝柏是中国西南部的本土物种，具有高度多态性。然而，其功能性状种内变异的环境驱动因素仍知之甚少。在本研究中，我们调查了20个种群中五个功能性状（树皮厚度、树高、叶片干物质含量、叶长和比叶面积）与栖息地条件之间的关系，这些种群代表了三个变种：原变种、变种 和变种 。我们的实验旨在确定在不同环境条件下，这三个变种的功能性状是否存在差异。由于比叶面积和叶片干物质含量与任何环境因素均无显著相关性，我们将分析重点放在了其余三个性状上。使用随机森林模型，我们评估了每个环境因素的重要性，结果如下：温度季节性是树高的关键决定因素；土壤颗粒大小（黏土和沙子）对树皮厚度的影响最大；而对于叶长来说，最干旱季度的降水量是最重要的因素。这些发现为滇藏方枝柏功能性状的变异提供了见解，并增进了我们对其适应不同环境的理解。
