Effects Of Environmental Factors On Plant Functional Traits And The Relationship Between Functional Traits In Taishan Woody Plants

Plant traits reflect the responses of plants to the environment, when studying interactions of plant functional traits and responses to environmental factors, linking the environmental factors, individual plants, ecological communities and ecological system structure, processes and functions will help better understanding coordination between plant growth and environment, and relationships of communities and ecosystem, and thus to inverse the small-scale (plant functional traits) changes to the large-scale (community or ecosystem) changes. In August2012, at Taishan chose eight plots, collected733samples along an altitudinal gradient,used Pearson correlation analysis and linear regression analysis to explore the interrelationship of woody plants functional traits and response to environmental factors.The study found, that P content in leaves was significantly lower than in other regions, while the correlation of leaf nitrogen/phosphorus ratio and leaf phosphorus content was significantly higher than leaf nitrogen content, correlation of the root nitrogen/phosphorus ratio and root phosphorus content is also significantly higher than the root nitrogen content, which showed that the P element impacts N:P greater, therefore, the growth of vegetation in Taishan is more restricted by phosphorus, and appropriately adding phosphorus can help speed up recovery. In this study, wood density and tree height/diameter at breast height has a significant positive correlation, which is a kind of plant adaption strategy. Bark thickness is positive correlated with phosphorus content of roots and leaves, therefore we can determine that the P element has a significant influence on the synthesis of bark, appropriately increasing the P element can increase the yield of bark, thereby enhancing economic efficiency.Not only functional traits within the same organ have significant correlations (leaf nitrogen content and leaf phosphorus content, leaf mass per area and leaf dry matter content, root nitrogen content and phosphorus content all have positive correlations. SPAD value and leaf Dry matter content are negatively correlated), functional traits between different organs (root nitrogen content and leaf nitrogen content, root phosphorus content and leaf phosphorus content, bark thickness and leaf phosphorus content are all positively correlated, leaf mass per area and root nitrogen content, tree height/diameter at breast height and root nitrogen content are all negatively correlated etc.) are also closely related, significant correlation between these functional traits was important for plants to adapt to the changing environment, and they are also a kind of plant survival strategy.The study found that root, leaf nitrogen content and soil nitrogen content as well as roots, leaf phosphorus content and soil phosphorus content have significant positive correlations, indicating that the nitrogen and phosphorus content in plants increases with the increasing nitrogen and phosphorus content in soil, which verified the conclusion that the plant element content covariance with element content of the external environment.Root, leaf nitrogen content and soil phosphorus content, root, leaf phosphorus content and soil nitrogen content all have significant positive correlations, which indicates that when an element in soil increases, the plant will not only increase the absorption of this element, but will also promote absorbing another element, it reflects the cooperativity between different elements of plant.Functional traits, like leaf nitrogen and phosphorus content, root phosphorus content, bark thickness, increase with increasing altitude, while wood density, leaf dry matter content decrease with altitude, the combination of these changes in functional traits made plants better adapted to high altitude environments, plants use combination of changes in functional traits to adapt to the changing environment. As the slope increases, leaf mass per area and petiole mass/lamina mass are also increasing, while leaf nitrogen and phosphorus content, SPAD value, root nitrogen and phosphorus content, bark thickness and tree height/diameter at breast height are decreased with slope. Plants optimize themselves and adapt to the living environment of high slope through adjusting these traits. When the slope tends to south direction, nitrogen and phosphorus ratio of root and leaf, and wood density will gradually increase, while leaf nitrogen and phosphorus content, SPAD value, leaf mass per area and root phosphorus content will decrease, which is a kind of plant adaption strategy to the external environment. Root, leaf phosphorus content is positively correlated with altitude, and negatively correlated with slope aspect. Changes of altitude and aspect will cause temperature changes, thereby affecting plants, and therefore we can infer that temperature impacts the plant absorption of phosphorus, at low temperatures plants have high phosphorus content.Studying the co-relationship between functional traits can help understanding the mechanism of interaction between plant traits. If we know the exact correlation between plant traits, we can estimate the variation of other traits by measuring changes of one trait. Exploring response of functional traits to environmental factors will help understanding how plants rationally allocate and utilize resources in different environments, and also help building a better ecosystems mechanism model, thus we can better predict how environmental changes influence function and structure of forest ecosystem of Taishan, and effectively protect forest ecosystem.