scholarly journals Leaf functional traits differentiation in relation to covering materials of urban tree pits

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyou Zhu ◽  
Yujuan Cao ◽  
Weijun He ◽  
Qing Xu ◽  
Chengyang Xu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Understanding the ecological strategies of urban trees to the urban environment is crucial to the selection and management of urban trees. However, it is still unclear whether urban tree pit cover will affect plant functional traits. Here, we study the response of urban trees to different tree pit covers, analyzed the effects of different cover types on soil properties and their trade-off strategies based on leaf functional traits. Results We found that there were obvious differences in the physical properties of the soil in different tree pit covers. Under the different tree pit cover types, soil bulk density and soil porosity reached the maximum under cement cover and turf cover, respectively. We found that tree pit cover significantly affected the leaf properties of urban trees. Leaf thickness, chlorophyll content index and stomatal density were mainly affected by soil bulk density and non-capillary porosity in a positive direction, and were affected by soil total porosity and capillary porosity in a negative direction. Leaf dry matter content and stomata area were mainly negatively affected by soil bulk density and non-capillary porosity, and positively affected by soil total porosity and capillary porosity. Covering materials of tree pits promoted the functional adjustment of plants and form the best combination of functions. Conclusion Under the influence of tree pit cover, plant have low specific leaf area, stomata density, high leaf thickness, chlorophyll content index, leaf dry matter content, leaf tissue density and stomata area, which belong to “quick investment-return” type in the leaf economics spectrum.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyou Zhu ◽  
Chengyang Xu

Abstract Background Functional trait-based ecological research has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of environmental changes. It is still, however, unclear how the functional traits of urban plants respond to atmospheric particulate matter, and which trade-off strategies are shown. In order to explore the variation of plant functional traits with the gradient of urban atmospheric particulate matter, we divided atmospheric particulate matter into three levels according to road distance, and measured the variation of six essential leaf functional traits and their trade-off strategies. Results Here, we show that the functional traits of plants can be used as predictors of plant response to urban atmospheric particulate matter. Within the study, leaf thickness, leaf dry matter content, leaf tissue density, stomatal density were positively correlated with atmospheric particulate matter. On the contrary, chlorophyll content index and specific leaf area were negatively correlated with atmospheric particulate matter. Plants can improve the efficiency of gas exchange by optimizing the spatial distribution of leaf stomata. Under the atmospheric particulate matter environment, urban plants show a trade-off relationship of economics spectrum traits at the intraspecific level. Conclusion Under the influence of urban atmospheric particulate matter, urban plant shows a “slow investment-return” type in the leaf economics spectrum at the intraspecific level, with lower specific leaf area, lower chlorophyll content index, ticker leaves, higher leaf dry matter content, higher leaf tissue density and higher stomatal density. This finding provides a new perspective for understanding the resource trades-off strategy of plants adapting to atmospheric particulate matter.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-110
Author(s):  
Andrea Seral Puyoles ◽  
Antonio Murciano Cespedosa ◽  
Sonia Molino de Miguel ◽  
Pablo De la Fuente Brun ◽  
Jose María Gabriel y Galán

Nowadays, functional traits are widely used to study autoecological aspects in plant species. The analysis of these traits among climatic gradients allows us to know the strategy that plants follow depending on resource availability. Referring to plants, the traits measured in the leaves have a special importance; among these traits we can find SLA (Specific Leaf Area), LDMC (Leaf Dry- Matter Content) and LT (Leaf Thickness). In this work, these traits are measured in four species of the genus Asplenium. As extremes of a climatic gradient, we have focused our study in both bioclimatic regions existing in the Iberian Peninsula. Taking into account the differences referring to the resource availability for the species in each region, the main goal of this work is analyzing the variations of the three functional traits mentioned in the four species in both locations and associate these variations to macroclimatic variables. To this aim, fronds from the four species were collected in populations of each bioclimatic region to determine the fresh weight, dry weight and the foliar area. From these variables, we calculated the three functional traits. The results have shown that ferns adopt higher productive yields in the Mediterranean region (higher SLA values) and lower LDMC and LT values than in the Eurosiberian region. As to the climate variables effects, the average of the maximum temperatures in the warmest month (TMAX) is the variable that better explains the differences in the productive yield that the plants adopt in each region. On the other hand, annual precipitation seems not to play an important role on any of the functional traits in any of the species. Finally, we didn’t find a generalized tendency in the effects of the extern variables: frozen period, minimum temperatures in the coolest month and arid period.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
Andrea Seral Puyoles ◽  
Antonio Murciano Cespedosa ◽  
Sonia Molino de Miguel ◽  
Pablo De la Fuente Brun ◽  
Jose María Gabriel y Galán

Nowadays, functional traits are widely used to study autoecological aspects in plant species. The analysis of these traits among climatic gradients allows us to know the strategy that plants follow depending on resource availability. Referring to plants, the traits measured in the leaves have a special importance; among these traits we can find SLA (Specific Leaf Area), LDMC (Leaf Dry-Matter Content) and LT (Leaf Thickness). In this work, these traits are measured in four species of the genus Asplenium. As extremes of a climatic gradient, we have focused our study in both bioclimatic regions existing in the Iberian Peninsula. Taking into account the differences referring to the resource availability for the species in each region, the main goal of this work is analysing the variations of the three functional traits mentioned in the four species in both locations and associate these variations to macroclimatic variables. To this aim, fronds from the four species were collected in populations of each bioclimatic region to determine the fresh weight, dry weight and the foliar area. From these variables, we calculated the three functional traits. The results have shown that ferns adopt higher productive yields in the Mediterranean region (higher SLA values) and lower LDMC and LT values than in the Eurosiberian region. As to the climate variables effects, the average of the maximum temperatures in the warmest month (TMAX) is the variable that better explains the differences in the productive yield that the plants adopt in each region. On the other hand, annual precipitation seems not to play an important role on any of the functional traits in any of the species. Finally, we didn’t find a generalized tendency in the effects of the extern variables: frozen period, minimum temperatures in the coolest month and arid period.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiyou Zhu ◽  
Qing Xu ◽  
Chengyang Xu ◽  
Xinna Zhang

Abstract Background: Functional trait-based ecological research has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of understanding of environmental changes. It is still, however, unclear how the functional traits of urban plants respond to atmospheric particulate pollution, and what trade-off strategies are shown. In order to explore the variation of plant functional traits with urban atmospheric particulate pollution gradient, we divided atmospheric particulate pollution into three levels according to road distance, and measured the variation of six key leaf functional traits and their trade-off strategies. Results: Here, we show that the functional traits of plants can be used as predictors or indicators of the response of plant to urban atmospheric particulate pollution. Within studies, there was a positive correlation between leaf thickness, leaf dry matter content, leaf tissue density, stomata density and leaf dust deposition. While chlorophyll content index and specific leaf area were negatively correlated with the leaf dust deposition. Plants improve the efficiency of gas exchange by optimizing the spatial distribution of stomata of leaves. Dust deposition promotes the regular distribution of stomata. Due to the pressure of atmospheric particles, urban plant shows a trade-off relationship of economics spectrum traits at the leaf level. Taken together, these results indicate that urban atmospheric particulate pollution is the main factor causing the variation of plant functional traits. Conclusion:Under the influence of urban atmospheric particulate matter, plant show a "slow investment-return" type in the global leaf economics spectrum, with lower specific leaf area, lower chlorophyll content, larger leaf thickness, higher leaf dry matter content, higher leaf tissue density and higher stomatal density. This finding provides a new perspective for understanding the resource trades-off strategy of plants adapting to air pollution environment.


Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1079
Author(s):  
Martina Cardoni ◽  
Jesús Mercado-Blanco ◽  
Rafael Villar

Verticillium wilt of olive (VWO), caused by the soil-borne pathogen Verticillium dahliae, is considered one of the most important diseases affecting this tree crop. One of the best VWO management measures is the use of tolerant cultivars. Remarkably, no information is available about olive functional traits and their potential relationship with tolerance to V. dahliae. Twenty-five selected functional traits (for leaf, stem, root and whole plant) were evaluated in six olive varieties differing in their VWO tolerance level to identify possible links between this phenotype and functional traits’ variation. High intervarietal diversity was found among cultivars and several functional traits were related with VWO tolerance. Tolerant varieties showed higher leaf area, dry matter content (leaf, stem and plant) and mass fraction for stems, but lower for leaves. Significant differences were also detected for root functional traits, tolerant cultivars displaying larger fine root diameter and lignin content but smaller specific length and area of thick and fine roots. Correlations were found among functional traits both within varieties and between levels of tolerance/susceptibility to VWO. Associations were observed between biomass allocation, dry matter content and VWO tolerance. The most relevant difference between tolerant and susceptible cultivars was related to root system architecture.


2007 ◽  
Vol 99 (5) ◽  
pp. 955-958 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. V. Vaieretti ◽  
S. Diaz ◽  
D. Vile ◽  
E. Garnier

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 725-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Frederico Centurion ◽  
Amauri Nelson Beutler ◽  
Zigomar Menezes de Souza

The objective of this study was to assess the physical attributes of a kaolinitic oxisol, medium texture (Haplustox) and an oxidic oxisol, clayey (Eutrustox) under different usage systems, localized in the region of Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil. The usage systems were sugarcane, cotton and forest. Parameters such as soil bulk density, total porosity, macro and microporosity at the depths of 0.0-0.1; 0.1-0.2; 0.2-0.3, and 0.3-0.4 m were evaluated. Haplustox showed greater bulk density and smaller total porosity, macro and microporosity. The usage increased the bulk density in 0.0-0.3 m depth, with greater effects on the kaolinitic oxisol, mainly in 0.1-0.2 m depth in the areas cultivated with sugarcane.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinxin Guo ◽  
Xiaoan Zuo ◽  
Ping Yue ◽  
Xiangyun Li ◽  
Ya Hu

Abstract Background and Aims Global changes profoundly impact on structure and function of grassland ecosystem. However, it remains unclear on the mechanism of how multiple limiting resources affect plant community primary productivity (ANPP) in desert steppe.Methods Here, we conducted an experiment to examine the effects of precipitation changes (natural and ± 50% precipitation) and nutrient addition (=N: 0 g·m-2·yr-1; +N: N 10 g·m-2·yr-1; +NPK: N/P/K each for 10 g·m-2·yr-1) on species diversity, ANPP, functional traits and soil properties. We used structural equation model (SEM) to evaluate the effects of precipitation changes and nutrient addition on ANPP.Results Increased precipitation increased species diversity and ANPP under NPK addition, NPK addition increased ANPP under increased precipitation, and the interaction of precipitation changes and nutrient addition was significant for ANPP. Drought reduced plant height and leaf dry matter content (LDMC), but increased leaf nitrogen content (LNC). ANPP was positively correlated with species richness, abundance, height and LDMC, but negatively correlated with specific leaf area (SLA) and LNC. The SEM showed increased precipitation and nutrient addition directly increased ANPP. Altered precipitation indirectly affected ANPP through its effect on abundance and SLA, while nutrient addition indirectly affected ANPP only through its effect on abundance.Conclusion The combined limitations of precipitation and multiple nutrients deserves more attention in studying the effect of global changes on productivity in arid steppe. Our results highlight the importance of species diversity and functional traits in driving short-term responses of ANPP to environmental factors in desert steppe ecosystems.


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