Leaf functional traits of plants of alpine pastures at the Eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Elumeeva, Tatiana G.; Онипченко, В. Г.; Wu, Yan

doi:10.3103/s0096392515010034

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…However, lower SLA and leaf nutrient contents under grazing have been reported from typical grass steppes in Inner Mongolia (Bai et al, 2012) as well as from alpine humid meadows in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (Elumeeva, Onipchenko, & Wu, 2015). The causes underlying the inconsistent results remain unclear.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Environmental controls override grazing effects on plant functional traits in Tibetan rangelands

2019

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Plant functional traits are key to predict community responses to abiotic and biotic disturbances. Grazing is the dominant land‐use form in drylands and alpine environments, especially in Central Asian rangelands. Here, we address grazing effects and their relative importance against environmental controls on plant traits. We sampled 14 plant functional traits, which are potentially sensitive to grazing, from 127 taxa distributed across three grassland types in Tibetan grasslands exposed to increasing levels of precipitation: steppe, steppe‐meadow and meadow. We performed principal components analysis and fourth‐corner analysis to explore the impacts of grazing and environment on multiple community‐weighted mean (CWM) traits. We also used generaliszed linear mixed models to test the effects of grazing and environment on each CWM trait, and on three dimensions of functional trait diversity, i.e. functional richness (FRic), evenness (FEve) and divergence (FDiv). In addition, we undertook a mini‐review of former studies on grazing effects on plant traits in Chinese grasslands. We found that CWM traits were mainly affected by climate and elevation rather than by grazing intensity. Only plant tissue C content was negatively affected by intensified grazing across grassland types. Plant growth form and life form were mainly influenced by elevation, while heights of canopy and inflorescence were controlled by temperature. Specific leaf area was positively correlated with precipitation and soil total N content in steppes, while plant tissue N content was only correlated to livestock dung cover. Regarding functional trait diversity, FDiv in steppe‐meadows and meadows, and FEve in meadows were reduced by grazing. Synthesis. Our results confirmed that environmental controls override grazing impact on CWM traits across Tibetan alpine grasslands. Most plants and their respective traits are adaptive to alpine climates as well as to grazing, and are thus hardly affected by locally intensified grazing intensity. In steppes, functional diversity is insensitive to grazing due to the combined stress of drought and grazing. However, in steppe‐meadows and meadows, grazing may affect ecosystem functioning, as shown by the reduced values of FDiv and FEve under more intense grazing. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Environmental controls override grazing effects on plant functional traits in Tibetan rangelands

2019

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“…Afroalpine species do not differ from Caucasian alpine plants by size traits (mass and area). Their mean values con siderably exceed, for example, those in high alpine forb species in the Alps (leaf area 90 mm 2 , Körner et al 1989) and alpine meadows of Qinghai-Tibetan plateau (240 mm 2 , at about 3900 m a.s.l., measured by the same methods, Elumeeva et al 2015). Lower values in these cases are caused by the lack of relatively large leaved species in samples and the significant cattle grazing in Tibet and the Alps.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Do afroalpine plants differ from other alpine plants by their leaf functional traits?

Онипченко¹,

Kipkeev²,

Копылова³

et al. 2023

Bot Pac

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Afroalpine plants develop under specific climate with great daily fluctuations and weak seasonal dynamics of temperature. Do leaf functional traits of the plants in Mt. Kenya differ from those of temperate plants in NW Caucasus? To answer this question, we conducted a comparative study at the Teleki valley (4000–4500 m a.s.l.), Mt. Kenya, Kenya, and Teberda national park (2600–2900 m a.s.l.), the Caucasus, Russia. We measured leaf area, fresh and dry mass, C, N, P, δ13C, δ15N and derivative traits (specific leaf area – SLA, leaf dry matter content – LDMC, C:N and N:P ratios) for 48 species at the Teleki valley, and the same traits, except for the δ13C and δ15N, for 141 species in the Teberda national park. The CSR-strategies scores were calculated. We applied the Principal Component Analysis to reveal the main patterns of trait variation. Leaf dry mass of Mt. Kenya alpine plants ranged from 0.27 mg (Sagina afroalpina) to 14.0 g (Dendrosenecio keniodendron). Leaf area, mass and LDMC of alpine plants in both regions did not differ significantly. The SLA of Mt. Kenya’s plants varied about 20-fold: from 2.6 mm2 mg-1 (Festuca pilgeri) to 39.8 mm2 mg-1 (Cineraria deltoidea), and Caucasian plants had higher SLA. N and P leaf concentrations were higher, but C lower in Caucasian plants than in Kenyan. Leaf N:P ratio was similar for both regions, while C:N ratio was higher in Kenyan plants. Species of “rosette” trees (Dendrosenecio spp.) differed from other species by size characteristics (maximal leaf dry mass and area were in Dendrosenecio keniodendron), as well as correspondingly higher investment to mechanical tissues (high C:N ratio, low SLA). By the other functional traits, “rosette” trees were similar to many other alpine plants. Thus, afroalpine plants of Mt. Kenya are close to temperate alpine plants by some leaf functional traits, but possess higher stress-tolerance.

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“…Elumeeva has reported the leaf functional traits of this plant (Elumeeva et al. 2015 ). Here, we will report the complete chloroplast (cp) genome and analyze its phylogenetic relationship with other related species.…”

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confidence: 99%

The complete chloroplast genome and phylogenetic analysis of Primula stenocalyx Maxim.

Guo

2021

Mitochondrial DNA Part B

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Primula stenocalyx Maxim. is a perennial herb with purple umbel flowers. This alpine plant can survive at altitudes of 2700–4300 m. To explore the chloroplast genome, total DNA was extracted from a sample and sequenced, the reads of the chloroplast genome were assembled and annotated. The chloroplast genome of this plant has a circular form with a length of 153,678 bp comprising a large single-copy region (LSC, 84,236 bp), a small single-copy region (SSC, 17,746 bp), and two inverted repeats (IRs, 25,848 bp). The genome has a GC content of 37%. A total of 133 genes were predicted to contain 88 encoded proteins, 8 rRNAs and 37 tRNAs. The evolutionary history indicates that P. stenocalyx was grouped within Primula and formed a clade with Primula knuthiana with a 100% bootstrap support value. The complete cp genome of P. stenocalyx can serve as a reference for future studies on molecular biology, evolution, population genetics, taxonomy and resource protection.

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Leaf functional traits of plants of alpine pastures at the Eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 9 publications

References 24 publications

Environmental controls override grazing effects on plant functional traits in Tibetan rangelands

Environmental controls override grazing effects on plant functional traits in Tibetan rangelands

Do afroalpine plants differ from other alpine plants by their leaf functional traits?

The complete chloroplast genome and phylogenetic analysis of Primula stenocalyx Maxim.

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