Author(s)

Wenwen Guo ¹, Li Cheng ², Youzhi Bai ¹, Xingle Qu ¹, Mecao Zhuo ³

Affiliation(s)

¹ Agriculture & Animal Husbandry University, Nyingchi, Tibet, China
² Tibet University, Lhasa, Tibet, China
³ Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Comprehensive Service Center of Paizhen, Nyingchi, Tibet, China

Corresponding Author

Mecao Zhuo

ABSTRACT

Rhododendron aganniphum var. Schizopeplum is one of the typical community types in Sejila Mountain, which is of great significance in maintaining biodiversity and exerting ecological service functions. In this experiment, Rhododendron aganniphum with five different altitudes in Sejila Mountain was studied. Through single factor analysis, nine leaf functional traits, such as Pearson correlation analysis, the distribution characteristics of leaf area (LA), dry matter content (LDMC) and N, P, N: P of Rhododendron aganniphum var. Schizopeplum and their relationships were studied to reveal the ecological adaptation strategy of Rhododendron aganniphum to the environment. The results showed that: (1) The functional traits of Rhododendron aganniphum  leaves at five altitude gradients in Sejila Mountain are significantly different, where the coefficient of variation of specific leaf area (SLA) is the largest (57.78%), and the coefficient of variation of P is the smallest (4.60%), and the coefficient of variation from small to large is: P<N<N: P<leaf thickness (LT) <LDMC<LA<leaf dry weight (DW) <leaf tissue density (LD) <SLA. (2) The leaf functional traits show a certain trend along the altitude gradient. LA, DW, LDMC and SLA of  Rhododendron aganniphum leaves shows a downward trend with the increase of altitude gradient, while N, N: P, LT, P and LD shows an increasing trend with the increase of altitude gradient.(3) Correlation analysis shows that LA is significantly negatively correlated with N and N:P (P<0.05). There is a significant negative correlation between DW and N (P<0.05), and there is a significant positive correlation between N and P, N: P (P<0.01). (4) LDMC, DW and LA can be used as the main indexes of leaf functional traits of Rhododendron aganniphum. It is believed that with the increase of altitude, Rhododendron aganniphum in Sejila Mountain changed from a "pioneering" survival strategy to a "conservative" survival strategy to gain competitive advantage.

KEYWORDS

Rhododendron aganniphum var, schizopeplum, leaf functional traits, altitude gradient, survival strategy

CITE THIS PAPER

Wenwen Guo, Li Cheng, Youzhi Bai, Xingle Qu, Mecao Zhuo, Variation of Leaf Functional Traits of Rhododendron Aganniphum Var. Schizopeplum along Altitude Gradient. Environment, Resource and Ecology Journal (2023) Vol. 7: 1-8. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/erej.2023.070301.

REFERENCES

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