Characteristics And Correlation Of Functional Traits Of Bark,Wood And Leaf In 59 Woody Plants In The Wuyi Mountain,Eastern China

In order to reveal the trade-off among the multiple functional traits of bark,the covariation relationship between bark,wood and leaf functional traits,and the response of plant functional traits to altitude of forest woody plants.The experiment was conducted in the Wuyishan National Nature Reserve of Jiangxi.The experiments were established in the four forest communities(evergreen forest,needle-grown forest,deciduous forest,and alpine forest)along the different altitude.The functional traits of bark,wood,and leaf of 59 woody species were measured and analyzed.The main results were as follows:1)Trade-offs among bark functional traits:bark thickness is significantly negatively correlated with bark density(p<0.001),significantly positively correlated with bark water content(p<0.001),bark density is significantly negatively correlated with bark water content(p<0.001),indicating trade-off relationship exist among the bark thickness,bark density and bark water content.In addition,bark thickness was significantly negatived correlate with bark N content,indicating that bark thickness plays an important role for regulating plant growth.2)Covariation relationship among the bark,wood and leaf:bark thickness was significantly negatively correlated with wood water content and wood N content(p<0.001).Bark density was positively correlated with wood water content(p<0.05).There was a significant positive correlation of C content between bark and wood(p<0.05),bark C content was significantly negatively correlated with wood density and wood P content(p<0.05).Bark P content was positively correlated with vessel diameter、wood N、P content(p<0.05).The bark traits is more closely related leaf nutrient contents.3)Resource trade-offs of bark,wood,and leaf:There was no significant difference between different growth forms species in bark,wood and whole plant economic spectrum(P>0.05).In leaf economic spectrum,mostly shrub species were concentrated at the end of rapid investment returns,mostly Tree species were concentrated in slow investment returns.In different organs economic spectrum,mostly evergreen species are concentrated at the end of slow investment returns,however mostly deciduous species are concentrated at one end of rapid investment returns.Significant correlations were observed between the different organs,and different organs verous whole plant(p<0.001),demonstrating a high degree of convergence of resource balance strategies among organs.4)Ecological stoichiometric characteristics of C、N、P in different organs:There was no significant difference in C content between organs across overal(P>0.05),both the N and P content of leaf was significantly larger than bark than wood across overall and the different community(P<0.05).The content of N in different organs showed an allometric relationship(P<0.05),and the content of P showed a near equal scaling relationship(P>0.05).The scaling relationship between N and P in different organs was significantly positively correlated(p<0.001),and have a common slope(P>0.05),indicating that N and P had a certain promoting effect for plant.Furthermore,the analysis of the internal stability index of different organs showed that the change of the internal stability index of the bark was no significant,reflecting that the ratio of the elemental composition of the organism was relatively stable,consistent with the homeostasis hypothesis.5)The relationship between plant functional traits of different organs and environmental factors:Bark thickness were significantly positively correlated with soil N.、P content(p<0.001),indicating that soil elements can promote the bark thickness.The leaf relative water content was significantly positively correlated with soil C.、N content and pH(p<0.001).The bark thickness,leaf dry matter content and leaf relative water content decreased with increasing altitude,the specific leaf area and leaf tissue density increased with altitude.However,the nutrient content of different organs did not change significantly with altitude.These show that nutrient requirements were affected by plant functional groups,life forms and habitat factors.