Trait-Mediated Plant Responses to Environmental Aridity: Linking Functional Characteristics with Ecological Distribution
Keywords:
environmental aridity, plant functional traits, ecological distribution, elevation gradient, principal component analysisAbstract
Plant functional strategies are significantly affected by environmental aridity, but interactions between this and elevation, vegetation condition, climate and soil properties often make it hard to assess the influence of aridity alone. In this study, the relationships among aridity, plant functional characteristics and ecological distribution were investigated based on a comprehensive observational data set for a wide range of plant records throughout China. Functional traits comprised leaf area, plant height, seed size and cone size, and ecological positioning by latitude, longitude, elevation and environmental conditions. Nonparametric comparisons, correlation analysis, generalized additive models, multivariable regression and principal component analysis were used to evaluate trait variation across quartiles of the Aridity Index. All four traits showed significant differences among the aridity classes, and leaf area and plant height were most strongly affected. Aridity had weaker relationships than elevation, which had mostly negative associations with functional traits; NDVI and soil pH were also important. The multivariate Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed that a principal component axis was dominant, accounting for 56.3% of the total variation and significantly associated with aridity and ecological position. In general, plant functional responses to aridity were observed, but were heavily influenced by other environmental gradients. The results emphasize the need for trait-based integrated approaches in elucidating environmental filtering, functional adaptation, and ecological distribution in the face of increasing climate stress.
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