Plant Ecology

Effects of hydraulic traits on the species abundance distribution pattern of desert plant communities

  • Qixing SUN ,
  • Xiaodong YANG ,
  • Borui LI ,
  • Cuicui KONG ,
  • ANWAR Elhamjan ,
  • Jie ZHOU ,
  • Guanghui LYU
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  • 1. Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology, Ministry of Education, Urumqi 830046, Xinjiang, China
    2. College of Ecology and Environment, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830046, Xinjiang, China
    3. Department of Geography and Spatital Information Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, Zhejiang, China

Received date: 2022-07-27

  Revised date: 2022-10-22

  Online published: 2023-03-31

Abstract

Plant death caused by drought is an important cause of species composition changes in terrestrial ecosystems. Revealing the influence of hydraulic triats on species distribution, which is of great theoretical significance for understanding plant drought adaptation, restoration and management of desert vegetation. In this study, the woody plants in the Ebinur Lake Wetland Nature Reserve were selected as subject to compare the variation characteristics of species abundance and hydraulic traits under soil drought gradient and analyze the relationship between hydraulic traits and species abundance distribution. Results showed that the sum of abundance (community density) of all species did not change significantly. However, the responses of different species abundance to drought stress were significantly different. With the increase in soil drought, the specific conductivity, quasi-steady conductivity, and Huber value increased; the water potential of branches and leaves decreased continuously, and the stem wood density did not change significantly. The difference of hydraulic triats among species changed with the degree of drought. Redundancy analysis and generalized additive model showed that 92.8% of the variation of desert woody plant abundance distribution pattern can be explained by the measured hydraulic triats. In addition, plant abundance increased with the quasi-steady conductivity, specific conductivity, Huber value, and water potential of branches and leaves but decreased with the increase in stem wood density. Therefore, the changes of the woody plant abundance distribution can be predicted using the changes of hydraulic traits.

Cite this article

Qixing SUN , Xiaodong YANG , Borui LI , Cuicui KONG , ANWAR Elhamjan , Jie ZHOU , Guanghui LYU . Effects of hydraulic traits on the species abundance distribution pattern of desert plant communities[J]. Arid Zone Research, 2023 , 40(3) : 412 -424 . DOI: 10.13866/j.azr.2023.03.08

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