Differences Of Resource Acquisition Strategies Between Lianas And Their Host,and The Effects Of Lianas On Host In Qinling Mountains

Lianas are an important part of tropical,subtropical and temperate forest communities,and they are also important contributors to plant species diversity and biomass,and are one of the distinguishing features that distinguish tropical and subtropical forests from temperate forests.In recent years,with the development of global forest ecology,in particular the method based on functional traits in widely used in the study of plant ecology,makes the ecological strategy of climbing plants and its differences with upright plants in tropical and subtropical forests have been revealed gradually,however,there is still no clear conclusion about the impact and mechanism of climbing plants on trees or forest communities.In particular,few studies have been carried out in temperate regions.Based on this,this study took the common lianas and their host trees in the warm temperate forests of Taibai Mountain in the Qinling Mountains as the research objects,and compared the differences in resource acquisition strategies between lianas and symbiotic trees,and between trees with and without lianas infested based on functional traits.In order to reveal the ecological strategies of temperate climbing plants and their influence on trees and forest communities.The main results are as follows:（1）In the warm temperate forests of Taibai Mountain,lianas had faster resource acquisition strategies than host trees,and compared with host trees,lianas have thicker leaf thickness(L_th)and higher specific leaf area（SLA）and lower leaf dry matter concentration（LDMC）,leaf mass per area（LMA）,leaf carbon concentration（LCC）and wood density（WD）.The findings are consistent with previous studies in tropical and subtropical forests.（2）In the warm temperate forests of Taibai Mountain,liana-infested trees showed stronger ability of resource acquisition and support than those non liana-infested trees.To be specific:Compared with non liana-infested trees,non liana-infested trees had higher specific leaf area（SLA）,leaf nitrogen concentration（LNC）,wood density（WD）,and root nitrogen concentration（RNC）,root carbon concentration（RCC）,lower leaf thickness(L_th),leaf mass per area（LMA）,and low root carbon-nitrogen ratio（Root C/N）,these results indicated that the liana-infested trees increased their aboveground and underground resource acquisition ability,stem support ability and mechanical ability by adjusting functional traits of roots,stems and leaves after climbing by lianas.In addition,this study also found that the effects of lianas on the host varied with different growth stages of the host and climbing types of lianas.First of all,saplings with lianas showed higher specific leaf area（SLA）and lower leaf mass per area（LMA）,medium trees showed higher specific leaf area（SLA）,wood density（WD）and lower leaf thickness(L_th)leaf mass per area（LMA）after being climbed by lianas.However,there was no difference between liana-infested and non liana-infested large trees,indicating that the influence of lianas on trees is related to growth stage of trees;Secondly,stem twiners-infested trees had higher specific leaf area（SLA）,lower leaf mass per area（LMA）and lower root carbon-nitrogen ratio（Root C/N）than non liana-infested trees,while only root carbon concentration（RCC）of tendrils-infested trees was higher than that of non liana-infested trees,suggesting that stem twined had a greater effect on the host than tendril.