Plant trait-species abundance relationships vary with environmental properties in subtropical forests in eastern china.

Understanding how plant trait-species abundance relationships change with a range of single and multivariate environmental properties is crucial for explaining species abundance and rarity. In this study, the abundance of 94 woody plant species was examined and related to 15 plant leaf and wood trai...

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Main Authors: En-Rong Yan, Xiao-Dong Yang, Scott X Chang, Xi-Hua Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2013-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23560114/?tool=EBI
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spelling doaj-0679f20499484b61886573d35dc356c52021-03-03T23:30:47ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032013-01-0184e6111310.1371/journal.pone.0061113Plant trait-species abundance relationships vary with environmental properties in subtropical forests in eastern china.En-Rong YanXiao-Dong YangScott X ChangXi-Hua WangUnderstanding how plant trait-species abundance relationships change with a range of single and multivariate environmental properties is crucial for explaining species abundance and rarity. In this study, the abundance of 94 woody plant species was examined and related to 15 plant leaf and wood traits at both local and landscape scales involving 31 plots in subtropical forests in eastern China. Further, plant trait-species abundance relationships were related to a range of single and multivariate (PCA axes) environmental properties such as air humidity, soil moisture content, soil temperature, soil pH, and soil organic matter, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents. At the landscape scale, plant maximum height, and twig and stem wood densities were positively correlated, whereas mean leaf area (MLA), leaf N concentration (LN), and total leaf area per twig size (TLA) were negatively correlated with species abundance. At the plot scale, plant maximum height, leaf and twig dry matter contents, twig and stem wood densities were positively correlated, but MLA, specific leaf area, LN, leaf P concentration and TLA were negatively correlated with species abundance. Plant trait-species abundance relationships shifted over the range of seven single environmental properties and along multivariate environmental axes in a similar way. In conclusion, strong relationships between plant traits and species abundance existed among and within communities. Significant shifts in plant trait-species abundance relationships in a range of environmental properties suggest strong environmental filtering processes that influence species abundance and rarity in the studied subtropical forests.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23560114/?tool=EBI
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author En-Rong Yan
Xiao-Dong Yang
Scott X Chang
Xi-Hua Wang
spellingShingle En-Rong Yan
Xiao-Dong Yang
Scott X Chang
Xi-Hua Wang
Plant trait-species abundance relationships vary with environmental properties in subtropical forests in eastern china.
PLoS ONE
author_facet En-Rong Yan
Xiao-Dong Yang
Scott X Chang
Xi-Hua Wang
author_sort En-Rong Yan
title Plant trait-species abundance relationships vary with environmental properties in subtropical forests in eastern china.
title_short Plant trait-species abundance relationships vary with environmental properties in subtropical forests in eastern china.
title_full Plant trait-species abundance relationships vary with environmental properties in subtropical forests in eastern china.
title_fullStr Plant trait-species abundance relationships vary with environmental properties in subtropical forests in eastern china.
title_full_unstemmed Plant trait-species abundance relationships vary with environmental properties in subtropical forests in eastern china.
title_sort plant trait-species abundance relationships vary with environmental properties in subtropical forests in eastern china.
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
series PLoS ONE
issn 1932-6203
publishDate 2013-01-01
description Understanding how plant trait-species abundance relationships change with a range of single and multivariate environmental properties is crucial for explaining species abundance and rarity. In this study, the abundance of 94 woody plant species was examined and related to 15 plant leaf and wood traits at both local and landscape scales involving 31 plots in subtropical forests in eastern China. Further, plant trait-species abundance relationships were related to a range of single and multivariate (PCA axes) environmental properties such as air humidity, soil moisture content, soil temperature, soil pH, and soil organic matter, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) contents. At the landscape scale, plant maximum height, and twig and stem wood densities were positively correlated, whereas mean leaf area (MLA), leaf N concentration (LN), and total leaf area per twig size (TLA) were negatively correlated with species abundance. At the plot scale, plant maximum height, leaf and twig dry matter contents, twig and stem wood densities were positively correlated, but MLA, specific leaf area, LN, leaf P concentration and TLA were negatively correlated with species abundance. Plant trait-species abundance relationships shifted over the range of seven single environmental properties and along multivariate environmental axes in a similar way. In conclusion, strong relationships between plant traits and species abundance existed among and within communities. Significant shifts in plant trait-species abundance relationships in a range of environmental properties suggest strong environmental filtering processes that influence species abundance and rarity in the studied subtropical forests.
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/23560114/?tool=EBI
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AT scottxchang planttraitspeciesabundancerelationshipsvarywithenvironmentalpropertiesinsubtropicalforestsineasternchina
AT xihuawang planttraitspeciesabundancerelationshipsvarywithenvironmentalpropertiesinsubtropicalforestsineasternchina
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