Intraspecific trait variation in three common grass species reveals fine-scale species adjustment to local environmental conditions

作     者：Tina Buchmann Jens Schumacher Christiane Roscher 

作者机构：UFZHelmholtz Centre for Environmental ResearchTheodor-Lieser-Strasse 4Halle 06120Germany Institute of MathematicsStochasticsFriedrich Schiller University JenaErnst-Abbe-Platz 2Jena 07743Germany UFZHelmholtz Centre for Environmental ResearchPhysiological DiversityPermoserstraße 15Leipzig 04318Germany German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research(iDiv)Halle-Jena-LeipzigDeutscher Platz 5eLeipzig 04103Germany 

出 版 物：《Journal of Plant Ecology》 (植物生态学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2018年第11卷第6期

页      面：887-898页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 0830[工学-环境科学与工程（可授工学、理学、农学学位）] 0809[工学-电子科学与技术（可授工学、理学学位）] 08[工学] 0901[农学-作物学] 0902[农学-园艺学] 0713[理学-生态学] 

基　　金：This work was supported by the German Research Foundation(RO2397/6). 

主　　题：grass species intraspecific trait variation leaf traits 

摘      要：Aims Studies along environmental gradients have shown that intraspecific trait variation(ITV)may contribute considerably to community-level trait variation.However,we lack knowledge about how the extent of ITV varies on a local scale and whether a varying extent of ITV is related to differences in local environmental site and plant commu-nity characteristics.Methods We investigated plant height,specific leaf area(SLA),leaf dry mat-ter content(LDMC)and leaf greenness of three common grass spe-cies(Arrhenatherum elatius,Dactylis glomerata,Poa pratensis)in 12 mown grasslands in a local study area around Jena(Thuringia,Germany)across three spatially hierarchical sampling levels:between sites,between subplots within site and within subplots.Important Findings Arrhenatherum elatius and D.glomerata had higher means in plant height and a lower variation in leaf traits than P.pratensis.The major proportions of variation in leaf traits of P.pratensis and D.glomerata were found within subplots,while the traits of A.elatius varied mainly between sites.Trait correlations across the hierarchical sam-pling levels were highly consistent in A.elatius,but more variable in D.glomerata and P.pratensis.Environmental site and plant commu-nity characteristics mostly explained a larger proportion of variation in trait means in A.elatius than in D.glomerata and P.pratensis,while metrics of ITV were generally less predictable.Our results suggest that trait variation in P.pratensis and D.glomerata is more strongly related to within-site conditions(i.***.biotic interactions),while differences in local environmental conditions between sites have a strong impact on trait variation in A.elatius.Since our study was limited to three grass species,further studies with a greater number of species are required to make generalizations about the importance of biotic interactions and environmental conditions as drivers of ITV at local scale.