Links between leaf anatomy and leaf mass per area of herbaceous species across slope aspects in an eastern Tibetan subalpine meadow.

ABSTRACT: Leaf anatomy varies with abiotic factors and is an important trait for understanding plant adaptive responses to environmental conditions. Leaf mass per area (LMA) is a key morphological trait and is related to leaf performance, such as light-saturated photosynthetic rate per leaf mass, leaf mechanical strength, and leaf lifespan. LMA is the multiplicative product of leaf thickness (LT) and leaf density (LD), both of which vary with leaf anatomy. Nevertheless, how LMA, LT, and LD covary with leaf anatomy is largely unexplored along natural environmental gradients. Slope aspect is a topographic factor that underlies variations in solar irradiation, air temperature, humidity, and soil fertility. In the present study, we examined (1) how leaf anatomy varies with different slope aspects and (2

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9163673 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature