Analysis Of Functional Traits Among 84 Species Of Evergreen Broad-leaved Forest In Huangshan Mountains

Plant functional traits can reflect the functional characteristics of ecosystem.Studying plant functional traits can help to further understand the mechanism of plant participation in community construction,community succession,and vegetation distribution pattern.In this study,seven functional traits of 84 common woody plants were measured in a permanent plot of evergreen broad-leaved forest in Huangshan,Anhui Province.The trade-offs between functional traits of different woody plants and their responses to microtopographic factors were analyzed at the levels of species and community.The main results and conclusions are as follows:（1）The variation ranges of flower size,leaf area,specific leaf area,seed weight,leaf nitrogen concentration,leaf phosphorus concentration,and leaf potassium concentration were2.10～143.50 mm,2.58～259.32 cm²,40.88～283.08 cm²g^-1,0.001～2.74 g,6.88～26.76 mg g^-1,0.25～2.09 mg g^-1,and 2.70～25.95 mg g^-1 for 84 species of evergreen broad-leaved forest in Huangshan,Anhui Province,respectively.Their average values were 14.25 mm,33.83 cm²,135.19 cm²g^-1,0.16 g,16.77 mg g^-1,0.86 mg g^-1,and 13.73 mg g^-1,respectively.（2）Through correlation analysis,linear regression analysis,and principal component analysis among functional traits of evergreen broad-leaved forest,we found that there was correlation between functional traits of woody plants in evergreen broad-leaved forest,and the community level was stronger than the species level.The fitting of functional traits at the community level was better,the interpretation rate was generally higher,and the trait coordination was strongly influenced by species composition and abundance.Importantly,there was a strong coordination of plant functional traits at the community level,which was also reflected in the species level.Specifically,when the plant has a larger specific leaf area,it will have a larger single leaf area and a higher concentration of leaf potassium,and grow larger flowers,but produce lighter seeds.（3）The results of one-way ANOVA（Multiple comparison of Tukey’s HSD）showed that microtopography significantly affected the functional traits of woody plants in evergreen broad-leaved forest.The community weighted mean（CWM）traits of different life-forms species were significantly different among various local habitats;in the same habitat,the performance of CWM traits was comparatively similar,and the CWM traits have a certain trends of convergence.The concrete manifestations are as follows:（1）The CWM flower size in shady slope was the largest,and the other life forms species were lower in shady slope than in sunny slope and ridge;（2）The CWM leaf area and specific leaf area in sunny slope and ridge were significantly lower than in shady slope;（3）The CWM seed mass in ridge was the largest,and there was significant or non-significant difference with sunny slope and shady slope;（4）The CWM leaf nitrogen concentration in ridge was the smallest,and there were significant or insignificant differences between ridge with sunny and shady slopes;（5）The CWM leaf phosphorus concentration at ridge was the smallest in trees and shrubs,and the largest at shady slopes in evergreen and deciduous species.（6）The CWM leaf potassium concentration at ridge was higher than sunny and shady slopes in deciduous species,and the other life forms species at ridge were the smallest.（4）The correlation between CWM traits and slope was analyzed.We found that CWM specific leaf area and CWM leaf potassium concentration among all species were positively correlated with the slope gradient,and the CWM traits of tree,shrub,evergreen and deciduous species showed different responses to the slope gradient.The results of this study are valuable for further understanding the structure and function of evergreen broad-leaved forest in Huangshan Mountains,the mechanism of community assembly and maintenance,and the management and protection of biodiversity.