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Acquisitive to conservative resource use strategy and increased site-specific trait variance contribute to Sophora moorcroftiana dominance along an altitudinal gradient in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

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Abstract

Exploring plant trait variance within a species that is naturally distributed along an environmental gradient is key to understanding plant acclimation strategies. Here, we investigated plant trait variance of Sophora moorcroftiana in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau along an altitudinal gradient. The results showed that plant traits changed from acquisitive to conservative resource use strategy from low to high altitudes. Site-specific trait variance increased along with altitude increase and was strongly correlated with temperature variables, especially closely correlated with minimum temperature in the coldest month. The decreased trends of acquisitive traits and the increase of site-specific trait variance were coordinated with increased S. moorcroftiana dominance in high altitudes. The findings provided insight that the combination of plant resource use strategy and site-specific trait variance contributes to S. moorcroftiana dominance in response to divergent environmental conditions along altitudinal gradients. The strong correlation between plant trait variance and the minimum temperature in the coldest month suggested that it should pay more attention to the critical role extreme temperature played on trait variance which was often neglected in the past.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the support from the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS (Grant No. QYZDJ-SSW-DQC040), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32171876/52172300).

Funding

Funding was provided by Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS (Grant no. QYZDJ-SSW-DQC040) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 52172300 and 32171876).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Linze Inland River Basin Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Xiangyan Feng, Qiyue Yang, Hai Zhou & Wenzhi Zhao

  2. College of Geography and Environment Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Lingfei Zhong

  3. College of Resource Environment and Tourism, Hubei University of Arts and Sciences, Xiangyang, 441053, China

    Chuan Wang

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Xiangyan Feng

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  1. Xiangyan Feng
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  4. Qiyue Yang
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  5. Hai Zhou
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Contributions

ZW and FX designed the field experiment. FX, ZL, and WC conducted the field survey and measured the plant traits. FX, ZH, YQ, and WC prepared the figures and tables of the manuscript. FX and ZW wrote and reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wenzhi Zhao.

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Feng, X., Zhong, L., Wang, C. et al. Acquisitive to conservative resource use strategy and increased site-specific trait variance contribute to Sophora moorcroftiana dominance along an altitudinal gradient in Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. Plant Ecol 224, 1075–1087 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-023-01362-w

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