Elevation predicts the functional composition of alpine plant communities based on vegetative traits, but not based on floral traits
Elevation predicts the functional composition of alpine plant communities based on vegetative traits, but not based on floral traits
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DOI：
10.1007/s00035-017-0198-6
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发表时间：
2018-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.7
通讯作者：
R. Junker;Anne-Amélie C. Larue-Kontić
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
R. Junker;Anne-Amélie C. Larue-Kontić
群落内植物性状的功能多样性和组成与重要的生态系统功能和过程密切相关。反映植物对环境条件的适应性的营养性状通常在群落生态学中进行评估，而花部性状尽管对植物的生活史具有重要意义，但往往被忽视。花部性状的考虑涵盖了重要的方面，如有性植物繁殖和传粉者的多样性，这仍然没有观察到的研究集中在营养性状。为了测试是否营养和花卉性状不同的海拔高度的反应，我们测量了形态和化学特征的植物物种发生在牧场在奥地利阿尔卑斯山的七个海拔高度。使用n维超体积和矢量分析的概念，在功能组成的变化进行了检查。我们的数据表明，营养和花的性状不同的海拔梯度。而营养性状的变化在一个可预测的方式与海拔高度，花的性状没有具体的海拔高度。营养性状的总体变异主要是由于不同海拔植物之间的表型差异，而花性状的总体变异是由于社区内的高变异。因此，评估功能变化的营养和花卉性状沿着山坡揭示了不同的模式，植物海拔的反应，并可能有助于产生可检验的假设功能响应当前的气候变暖。
The functional diversity and composition of plant traits within communities are tightly linked to important ecosystem functions and processes. Whereas vegetative traits reflecting adaptations to environmental conditions are commonly assessed in community ecology, floral traits are often neglected despite their importance for the plants’ life cycle. The consideration of floral traits covers important aspects such as sexual plant reproduction and pollinator diversity, which remain unobserved in studies focussing on vegetative traits only. To test whether vegetative and floral traits differ in their responses to elevation, we measured morphological and chemical traits of plant species occurring in pastures at seven elevations in the Austrian Alps. Variation in functional composition was examined using the concept ofn-dimensional hypervolumes and vector analysis. Our data show that vegetative and floral traits vary differently with the elevational gradient. Whereas vegetative traits changed in a predictable manner with elevation, floral traits did not specifically respond to elevation. Overall variation in vegetative traits mainly resulted from phenotypical differences between plants in different elevations, whereas total variation in floral traits was a result from a high variation within communities. The assessment of functional changes in vegetative and floral traits along mountain slopes thus reveals different patterns in plant responses to elevation and may help to generate testable hypotheses on functional responses to current climate warming.