Divergent long- and short-term responses to environmental gradients in specific leaf area of grassland species

Specific leaf area (SLA) is one of the most widely researched plant traits, integrating multiple functions and reflecting plant resource acquisition strategies. However, the underlying mechanisms that drive temporal and spatial variation in SLA are still not clear. We used a combination of transect...

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Autores principales: Zhaogang Liu, Ning Dong, Hongxiang Zhang, Ming Zhao, Tingting Ren, Congcong Liu, Andrea Westerband, Nianpeng He
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Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Elsevier 2021
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spelling oai:doaj.org-article:e71eea61391a460ca7d2179ab2de105a2021-12-01T04:58:38ZDivergent long- and short-term responses to environmental gradients in specific leaf area of grassland species1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108058https://doaj.org/article/e71eea61391a460ca7d2179ab2de105a2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21007238https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XSpecific leaf area (SLA) is one of the most widely researched plant traits, integrating multiple functions and reflecting plant resource acquisition strategies. However, the underlying mechanisms that drive temporal and spatial variation in SLA are still not clear. We used a combination of transect investigation and short-term manipulative experiments to identify patterns of variation in SLA over naturally occurring and simulated environmental gradients. We measured SLA of 631 species from the Tibetan (TP), Loess (LP), and Mongolian Plateaus (MP), where plant growth is limited by temperature, soil nutrient availability, and precipitation, respectively. In each plateau, we established an east–west transect of 10 sites, including meadow steppe (meadow), typical steppe (steppe), and desert steppe (desert) habitats. We further measured SLA of 15 species from the TP and MP, using manipulative experiments that altered temperature, precipitation and soil nitrogen levels. SLA ranged from 0.9 to 58.90 m2 kg−1 on average, and was significantly larger in desert than in meadow and steppe, except in the LP. Plants from the TP had significantly lower SLA than those from the LP and MP, but variation in SLA across the environmental gradients was small and consistent across the three plateaus. Conversely, the short-term manipulative experiments revealed that SLA increased with resource availability. Shifts in SLA across the broad environmental gradients was relatively small, and SLA had high sensitivity to short-term resource enrichment, suggesting that grassland species in these plateaus express divergent short- (acclimation) and long-term responses (adaptation) to the environment, which may be an important strategy for coping with ongoing shifts in climate.Zhaogang LiuNing DongHongxiang ZhangMing ZhaoTingting RenCongcong LiuAndrea WesterbandNianpeng HeElsevierarticleAcclimationAdaptationGrasslandEnvironmental gradientResource limitationSpecific leaf areaEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 130, Iss , Pp 108058- (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Acclimation
Adaptation
Grassland
Environmental gradient
Resource limitation
Specific leaf area
Ecology
QH540-549.5
spellingShingle Acclimation
Adaptation
Grassland
Environmental gradient
Resource limitation
Specific leaf area
Ecology
QH540-549.5
Zhaogang Liu
Ning Dong
Hongxiang Zhang
Ming Zhao
Tingting Ren
Congcong Liu
Andrea Westerband
Nianpeng He
Divergent long- and short-term responses to environmental gradients in specific leaf area of grassland species
description Specific leaf area (SLA) is one of the most widely researched plant traits, integrating multiple functions and reflecting plant resource acquisition strategies. However, the underlying mechanisms that drive temporal and spatial variation in SLA are still not clear. We used a combination of transect investigation and short-term manipulative experiments to identify patterns of variation in SLA over naturally occurring and simulated environmental gradients. We measured SLA of 631 species from the Tibetan (TP), Loess (LP), and Mongolian Plateaus (MP), where plant growth is limited by temperature, soil nutrient availability, and precipitation, respectively. In each plateau, we established an east–west transect of 10 sites, including meadow steppe (meadow), typical steppe (steppe), and desert steppe (desert) habitats. We further measured SLA of 15 species from the TP and MP, using manipulative experiments that altered temperature, precipitation and soil nitrogen levels. SLA ranged from 0.9 to 58.90 m2 kg−1 on average, and was significantly larger in desert than in meadow and steppe, except in the LP. Plants from the TP had significantly lower SLA than those from the LP and MP, but variation in SLA across the environmental gradients was small and consistent across the three plateaus. Conversely, the short-term manipulative experiments revealed that SLA increased with resource availability. Shifts in SLA across the broad environmental gradients was relatively small, and SLA had high sensitivity to short-term resource enrichment, suggesting that grassland species in these plateaus express divergent short- (acclimation) and long-term responses (adaptation) to the environment, which may be an important strategy for coping with ongoing shifts in climate.
format article
author Zhaogang Liu
Ning Dong
Hongxiang Zhang
Ming Zhao
Tingting Ren
Congcong Liu
Andrea Westerband
Nianpeng He
author_facet Zhaogang Liu
Ning Dong
Hongxiang Zhang
Ming Zhao
Tingting Ren
Congcong Liu
Andrea Westerband
Nianpeng He
author_sort Zhaogang Liu
title Divergent long- and short-term responses to environmental gradients in specific leaf area of grassland species
title_short Divergent long- and short-term responses to environmental gradients in specific leaf area of grassland species
title_full Divergent long- and short-term responses to environmental gradients in specific leaf area of grassland species
title_fullStr Divergent long- and short-term responses to environmental gradients in specific leaf area of grassland species
title_full_unstemmed Divergent long- and short-term responses to environmental gradients in specific leaf area of grassland species
title_sort divergent long- and short-term responses to environmental gradients in specific leaf area of grassland species
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/e71eea61391a460ca7d2179ab2de105a
work_keys_str_mv AT zhaogangliu divergentlongandshorttermresponsestoenvironmentalgradientsinspecificleafareaofgrasslandspecies
AT ningdong divergentlongandshorttermresponsestoenvironmentalgradientsinspecificleafareaofgrasslandspecies
AT hongxiangzhang divergentlongandshorttermresponsestoenvironmentalgradientsinspecificleafareaofgrasslandspecies
AT mingzhao divergentlongandshorttermresponsestoenvironmentalgradientsinspecificleafareaofgrasslandspecies
AT tingtingren divergentlongandshorttermresponsestoenvironmentalgradientsinspecificleafareaofgrasslandspecies
AT congcongliu divergentlongandshorttermresponsestoenvironmentalgradientsinspecificleafareaofgrasslandspecies
AT andreawesterband divergentlongandshorttermresponsestoenvironmentalgradientsinspecificleafareaofgrasslandspecies
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