Spatial Distribution Pattern And Its Causes Of Woody Plant Functional Traits In Tiantong Region, Zhejiang Province

Understanding Spatial distribution patterns of plants have great sense in explaining community assemble process. Many ecologists found evidence which suggest the mean functional trait value of an assemblage changes predictably along environmental gradients. As functional traits can indicate plants ecological strategies directly it is more predictable than species along a resource axis or resource axes. Study the laws of traits'spatially vary is the key to understand species co-existence mechanisms in one community. However, traits spatial distribution pattern and whether it has the same pattern of species is unknown. Based on these, we chose three leaf traits(leaf area, specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content) which can reflect different plant strategies directly instead of species and take spatial pattern analysis with these traits in a5ha plot Tiantong region, Zhejiang Province. We preliminary found its causes from species character and environment factors.1) Most individuals have big amount of small leaves and aggregated distribution pattern, few individuals have big leaves and they are poission distributed in study area. Specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf dry matter content (LDMC) have similar distribution patterns; extremely big and small trait values are rare and have a changeable distribution pattern. They were aggregated in small scale but randomly distributed while the scale gets bigger. Most individuals whose trait values are in middle classes tend to be aggregated.2) Small leaves are generally belonging to evergreen species. As they have enough ability to occupy in poor recouse supplied habitat and tolerance higher competiton among themselves, they chose to be aggregated. Besides, big leaves mostly belonging to deciduous species which need more sunshine and fertilize. And they may randomly grow up from gaps which may appear from typhone in summer. Individuals with high SLA usually means low settle ability probability of plant propagulum while with low SLA may means weak breed ability. So individuals with extremely values are randomly distributed. Traits and their species usually have decoupled spatial distribution patterns, that may means traits'distribution is not only determinded by species characters.3) Leaf area is the most sencitive traits with environment factors and its distribution pattern is highly correlated with with soil fertility and acidity gradients. Topographic factors affect traits spatial distribution by habitat heterogeneity. The lack of correlation between SLA and environment factors may be due to limited heterogeneity in soil nutrients in this particular forest. And also indicates that soil nutrients are not the only determinant of plant trait distributions and alternative resource axes, such as light, will have to be considered in future work.