Plant Ecological Strategies in Relation to Environmental Factors Along Elevational Gradients on Gongga Mount

Decoupling of whole-plant economic strategy from population performance in the invasive Solidago canadensis along geographic gradients in China

The whole-plant economic spectrum captures resource-use strategies along three key gradients: a conservation–acquisition gradient reflecting trade-offs in resource investment, a belowground collaboration gradient representing the continuum from ‘do-it-yourself’ to ‘outsourcing’ via mycorrhizal fungi, and a plant size gradient capturing variation in stature. However, how these axes apply to intraspecific trait variation and mediate invasion success along geographic gradients remains unclear. We measured traits, population performance, and environmental variables in the invasive forb Solidago canadensis across latitudinal and longitudinal gradients in eastern subtropical China. Populations shifted along the conservation–acquisition axis from conservative to acquisitive strategies with increasing longitude; this shift was marginally significant along latitude. Contrary to the expectation that plant size and collaboration gradients are independent, these two dimensions were coupled and showed no clear geographic trends. Environmental factors significantly influenced intraspecific trait variation, economic strategy positioning, and invasion performance. Native diversity explained the largest proportion of variation in economic strategy and performance. Crucially, we found no significant relationship between the major axes of the whole-plant economic spectrum and population performance. This suggests that diverse trait combinations may yield similar fitness outcomes, indicating fitness homeostasis across heterogeneous environments. We conclude that while geographic gradients shape whole-plant economic strategies in S. canadensis, its invasion success is likely driven by adaptive trait combinations that maintain high fitness, rather than a single optimal strategy directly mediating performance.

Differentiation of plant adaptive strategies on the Jingpo Lake lava plateau: a comparison of leaf and absorptive root functional trait spectra across different life forms.

Focusing on the highly heterogeneous habitat of the Jingpo Lake lava plateau, this study quantified 24 above- and below-ground functional traits across 12 dominant species. Transcending the conventional single-organ perspective, we investigated whether environmental stress drives the divergence of adaptive strategies by amplifying trait variation among distinct life forms. Woody plants exhibited substantially higher phenotypic plasticity than herbaceous species, with the average coefficient of variation for absorptive roots reaching 32.74% - approximately twice that of herbs. Reflecting a 'structural reinforcement' strategy, the main vein thickness (MV) and root stele diameter (RSD) of woody plants were 1.79 and 2.22 times greater than those of herbs (P < 0.05), respectively. Core above- and below-ground anatomical traits in woody plants were highly positively correlated (P < 0.01), indicating strong 'functional integration.' Conversely, herbaceous plants lacked significant cross-organ structural correlations (P > 0.05) and displayed clear 'trait decoupling,' relying primarily on 'phenological escape' and significantly elevated mycorrhizal colonization rates (MIs) for resource acquisition. Principal component analysis demonstrated that the first axis captured 48.7% of the total variation, driven predominantly by below-ground traits such as root diameter, with significant differences observed between life forms (P < 0.05). This underscores that below-ground traits explain the strategic divergence of plant functional groups in lava plateau habitats more effectively than above-ground traits. Ultimately, our results validate the hypotheses that extreme habitats amplify resource trade-offs between woody and herbaceous plants, and that below-ground traits act as robust indicators of strategy divergence, offering essential scientific insights into plant survival and adaptation mechanisms in fragile ecosystems.

Facing a harsh climate: terrestrial plant functional strategies in a changing world

A machine learning approach and utilizing multi-source satellite remote-sensing and field-collected sPlotOpen measurements data, the first global community-level map of CSR functional strategy variations is generated, providing critical insights into global plant community dynamics under challenging abiotic conditions.

Multi‐gradient warming reshapes functional traits and adaptive responses of alpine meadow plants

Plant functional traits in alpine meadows are critical indicators of ecosystem responses to climate warming, yet dynamic changes in trait networks across warming gradients and their consequences for community functions remain poorly understood. We conducted a 5‐year multi‐level warming experiment (low: +1.3°C; medium: +2.3°C; high: +3.3°C) in a Qinghai–Tibet Plateau alpine meadow, measuring 19 functional traits across three dominant species ( Kobresia pygmaea , Elymus sibiricus , Oxytropis melanocalyx ) to quantify warming effects on trait coordination, community functionality and adaptive strategies. Warming amplitude dictated trait response directions. Critically, trait responses exhibited distinct threshold dynamics: under low warming, highly plastic physiological traits shifted rapidly while stable structural and morphological traits remained largely unaffected, thereby maintaining community functional structure. However, high warming (+3.3°C) triggered severe oxidative stress, evidenced by a 28% increase in malondialdehyde and caused divergent species‐specific adjustments in specific leaf area (SLA). At the community level, acquisitive traits increased under moderate warming but declined at high warming, coinciding with a 34% reduction in functional diversity. Notably, trait networks shifted from energy storage to structural maintenance under warming, with modularity increasing by 41% and connectivity decreasing by 29%, reflecting disrupted trait synergies. Furthermore, warming weakened inter‐trait correlations between physiological and structural traits, indicating that environmental stress disrupted trait coordination and amplified trade‐offs between stress tolerance and growth‐related traits. The coordination of functional traits in alpine meadow plants exhibits a nonlinear response to climate warming, where moderate warming enhances resource acquisition efficiency, while high warming alters trait coordination patterns and diminishes functional diversity. By revealing how the magnitude of warming controls the trade‐off between structural maintenance and physiological performance, the understanding of the mechanism by which warming gradients alter plant ecological strategies has been advanced. These results suggest that alpine meadows may initially buffer moderate warming through trait plasticity, but are at risk of functional instability under extreme warming conditions, providing a critical threshold for predicting ecosystem transitions. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Ontogenetic shifts in rooting strategy enhance the adaptability of Corethrodendron fruticosum in sandy deserts

What Drives Seasonal Mat Dynamics in Eutrophic Lake: Allelopathy or Environmental Gradients?

ABSTRACT Eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems promotes the occurrence of filamentous macroalgae and free‐floating macrophytes that form dense surface mat in the littoral zone of shallow water bodies. The structure of these communities is shaped by environmental gradients, species features, and tolerance to competition‐related stressors. While laboratory studies show allelopathic potential of these primary producers, field‐based evidence integrating chemical interactions with environmental gradients is still poorly understood. We conducted a two‐season field study in eutrophic Lake Oporzyńskie to assess the relative importance of allelopathy and environmental gradients in regulating community dynamics of C. glomerata and L. minor . We measured the phenolic content in water and species extracts, physicochemical water parameters and mat size, analyzing the associations using RDA, variance partitioning, and GAM. Variance partitioning showed that phenolics and physicochemical parameters jointly explained more variation in mat size (adjusted R 2 = 0.446) than either fraction alone, with phenolics contributing a markedly larger unique fraction (R 2 = 0.337) than physicochemical parameters (R 2 = 0.060). RDA identified phenolic content in water as the strongest predictor of mat size, with an asymmetric relationship, positive for C. glomerata and negative for L. minor , consistent with an allelopathic advantage for the macroalga, which also had higher phenolic content in its own extract. GAM analyses confirmed this pattern and revealed contrasting, taxon‐specific response curves to phenolic content, pH, dissolved oxygen, and TDS. This was associated with temporal niche partitioning, with C. glomerata dominating mid‐summer and L. minor expanding in late summer and autumn. Our findings suggest that coexistence of these species reflects the combined action of allelopathic interactions and environmental gradients generating species‐specific temporal windows of dominance. This integrated approach highlights the need to jointly consider chemical and environmental drivers when studying plant community dynamics in aquatic ecosystems.