Sericostaehys seandens is a monocarpic and heliophilous liana, native in tropical African forests. In the montane forests of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park （KBNP） （East of DR Congo）, it has been expanding very str...Sericostaehys seandens is a monocarpic and heliophilous liana, native in tropical African forests. In the montane forests of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park （KBNP） （East of DR Congo）, it has been expanding very strongly for a decade, and is currently considered as having negative impacts on biodiversity conservation. In this paper, we test if S. scandens differs from three co-occurring, native, non spreading lianas （Gouania longispicata, Tacazzea apiculata and Adenia bequaertii） for functional traits which might influence plant expansion. For leaf traits （SLA, dry matter content, nitrogen concentration）, S. scandens did not show extreme values compared to those of the three other lianas. In contrast, S. scandens had much higher biomass allocation to sexual reproduction. It also differs from the three other lianas for its reproductive strategy that combines both vegetative propagation and sexual reproduct/on, and propagule dispersal by wind. Moreover, S. scandens has larger leaves and a greater number of lateral branches per unit stem length. It is argued that the particular combination of functional traits exhibited by S.scandens may in part explain its propensity to behave as an opportunistic weed in the disturbed areas in the montane forests of Kahuzi-Biega.展开更多
Aims Morphological variation of leaves is a key indicator of plant response to climatic change.Leaf size and shape are associated with carbon,water and energy exchange of plants with their environment.However,whether ...Aims Morphological variation of leaves is a key indicator of plant response to climatic change.Leaf size and shape are associated with carbon,water and energy exchange of plants with their environment.However,whether and how leaf size and shape responded to climate change over the past decades remains poorly studied.Moreover,many studies have only explored inter-but not intraspecific variation in leaf size and shape across space and time.Methods We collected>6000 herbarium specimens spanning 98 years(1910–2008)in China for seven representative dicot species and measured their leaf length and width.We explored geographical patterns and temporal trends in leaf size(i.e.leaf length,leaf width and length×width product)and shape(i.e.length/width ratio),and investigated the effects of changes in precipitation and temperature over time and space on the variation in leaf size and shape.Important Findings After accounting for the effects of sampling time,leaf size decreased with latitude for all species combined,but the relationship varied among species.Leaf size and shape were positively correlated with temperature and precipitation across space.After accounting for the effects of sampling locations,leaf size of all species combined increased with time.Leaf size changes over time were mostly positively correlated with precipitation,whereas leaf shape changes were mostly correlated with temperature.Overall,our results indicate significant spatial and temporal intraspecific variation in leaf size and shape in response to climate.Our study also demonstrates that herbarium specimens collected over a considerable period of time provide a good resource to study the impacts of climate change on plant morphological traits.展开更多
The leaf economic spectrum(LES)quantifes correlations between key leaf traits across vascular plants and distills much of the variation in these traits to a single axis.The LES,remarkable in its near universality,has ...The leaf economic spectrum(LES)quantifes correlations between key leaf traits across vascular plants and distills much of the variation in these traits to a single axis.The LES,remarkable in its near universality,has been extensively researched across a variety of contexts.However,parasitic plants relationship to the LES framework remains relatively unexplored.Because the LES is,in part,driven by physiological tradeoffs in the acquisition of carbon(C),in theory heterotrophy in parasitic plants,which supplants some of the essential functions of leaves,could lead to departures from the LES.Using global leaf trait data from the TRY database,this work assessed the overall representation of parasitic plants in the TRY database,then compared the LES suite of leaf traits in parasitic plants to their non-parasitic counterparts.Despite their unique physiology,parasitic plants did not deviate dramatically from the LES,although there were examples of differences in position on the LES and relationships among traits.Perhaps more importantly,parasitic plants are not well represented in the TRY database,making any conclusions here premature.展开更多
基金the Belgian Development Cooperation for the financial help
文摘Sericostaehys seandens is a monocarpic and heliophilous liana, native in tropical African forests. In the montane forests of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park （KBNP） （East of DR Congo）, it has been expanding very strongly for a decade, and is currently considered as having negative impacts on biodiversity conservation. In this paper, we test if S. scandens differs from three co-occurring, native, non spreading lianas （Gouania longispicata, Tacazzea apiculata and Adenia bequaertii） for functional traits which might influence plant expansion. For leaf traits （SLA, dry matter content, nitrogen concentration）, S. scandens did not show extreme values compared to those of the three other lianas. In contrast, S. scandens had much higher biomass allocation to sexual reproduction. It also differs from the three other lianas for its reproductive strategy that combines both vegetative propagation and sexual reproduct/on, and propagule dispersal by wind. Moreover, S. scandens has larger leaves and a greater number of lateral branches per unit stem length. It is argued that the particular combination of functional traits exhibited by S.scandens may in part explain its propensity to behave as an opportunistic weed in the disturbed areas in the montane forests of Kahuzi-Biega.
基金supported by the National Key Research Development Program of China(grant number 2018YFA0606104)National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant numbers 31988102,31911530102,and Chinese Academy of Sciences-Peking University Pioneer Collaboration Team.
文摘Aims Morphological variation of leaves is a key indicator of plant response to climatic change.Leaf size and shape are associated with carbon,water and energy exchange of plants with their environment.However,whether and how leaf size and shape responded to climate change over the past decades remains poorly studied.Moreover,many studies have only explored inter-but not intraspecific variation in leaf size and shape across space and time.Methods We collected>6000 herbarium specimens spanning 98 years(1910–2008)in China for seven representative dicot species and measured their leaf length and width.We explored geographical patterns and temporal trends in leaf size(i.e.leaf length,leaf width and length×width product)and shape(i.e.length/width ratio),and investigated the effects of changes in precipitation and temperature over time and space on the variation in leaf size and shape.Important Findings After accounting for the effects of sampling time,leaf size decreased with latitude for all species combined,but the relationship varied among species.Leaf size and shape were positively correlated with temperature and precipitation across space.After accounting for the effects of sampling locations,leaf size of all species combined increased with time.Leaf size changes over time were mostly positively correlated with precipitation,whereas leaf shape changes were mostly correlated with temperature.Overall,our results indicate significant spatial and temporal intraspecific variation in leaf size and shape in response to climate.Our study also demonstrates that herbarium specimens collected over a considerable period of time provide a good resource to study the impacts of climate change on plant morphological traits.
基金supported by the Department of Integrative Biology at University of California Berkeley.
文摘The leaf economic spectrum(LES)quantifes correlations between key leaf traits across vascular plants and distills much of the variation in these traits to a single axis.The LES,remarkable in its near universality,has been extensively researched across a variety of contexts.However,parasitic plants relationship to the LES framework remains relatively unexplored.Because the LES is,in part,driven by physiological tradeoffs in the acquisition of carbon(C),in theory heterotrophy in parasitic plants,which supplants some of the essential functions of leaves,could lead to departures from the LES.Using global leaf trait data from the TRY database,this work assessed the overall representation of parasitic plants in the TRY database,then compared the LES suite of leaf traits in parasitic plants to their non-parasitic counterparts.Despite their unique physiology,parasitic plants did not deviate dramatically from the LES,although there were examples of differences in position on the LES and relationships among traits.Perhaps more importantly,parasitic plants are not well represented in the TRY database,making any conclusions here premature.
