Above- and Belowground Plant Functional Composition Show Similar Changes During Temperate Forest Swamp Succession.

ABSTRACT: Plant functional composition, defined by both community-weighted mean (CWM) traits and functional diversity, can provide insights into plant ecological strategies and community assembly. However, our understanding of plant functional composition during succession is largely based on aboveground traits. Here we investigated community-level traits and functional diversity for six pairs of analogous leaf and fine root traits of understory plants in a temperate forest swamp during succession with a decrease in soil pH and nutrient availability. CWMs of traits related to resource acquisition (including specific leaf area, specific root length, leaf N, leaf P, root N, and root P) decreased with succession, whereas those related to resource conservation (leaf dry matter content, root dry matter c

SUBMITTER: Hu YK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8274568 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature