Arid Zone Research ›› 2024, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (3): 480-489.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2024.03.12

• Ecology and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Phylogeny and functional traits affect the changes in flowering phenology across woody species in Xinjiang

LIAO Ke1(), SUN Nan1, LI Saiqiang1, SUN Xiqing1, LUO Xu1,2, YANG Xiaodong1,2,3()   

  1. 1. Department of Geography and Spatial Information Techniques, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, Zhejiang, China
    2. Donghai Institute, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, Zhejiang, China
    3. College of Resource and Environment Sciences, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2023-07-27 Revised:2023-10-02 Online:2024-03-15 Published:2024-04-01

Abstract:

This study aimed to determine whether systematic development and functional traits affect the changes in flowering phenology across woody plants in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Thus, in this study, a botanical garden or park in Urumqi, Yining, and Kashgar was selected as the research object, and then the flowering phenological traits of 120 woody species as well as plant functional traits were observed and collected. The systematic development signals and a generalized least squares model of systematic development were used to study phenological conservation and the impact of plant functional traits on flowering phenology. Results show that the flowering phenology of woody plants was mainly concentrated from March 31 to April 20, with a flowering duration of (13.03±0.38) d. Trees, fleshy fruit, colored flowers, and wind-borne plants have earlier flowering phenology than shrubs, non-fleshy fruit, non-colored flowers, and insect-borne plants, respectively. (2) The phylogenetic signals (Pagel’s λ) of three flowering phenological traits ranged from 0.67 to 0.74, indicating that phylogenetic development constrained the flowering phenology of woody species. (3) Fruit type, flower color, and pollination mode were the main functional traits driving changes in flowering phenology, with a contribution rate of 17.4%-31.6%. The results of this study indicate that systematic development and functional traits affect the changes in flowering phenology across woody plants, which has deepened the phenological theory and is of great importance for elucidating the mechanism of biodiversity maintenance and insect-plant relationships in arid areas.

Key words: flowering phenology, phylogeny, plant functional traits, flower color, fruit type, woody plant