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Intraspecific and sex-dependent variation of leaf traits along altitude gradient in the endangered dioecious tree Taxus fuana Nan Li & R.R. Mill

Plant intraspecific trait variation (ITV) including sex-dependent differences are matters of many ecological consequences, from individual to ecosystem, especially in endangered and rare species. Taxus fuana is an endangered dioecious species with small and isolated populations endemic to the Himala...

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Autores principales: Li, Tian-Xiang, Shen-Tu, Xiao-Lu, Xu, Li, Zhang, Wei-Jun, Duan, Jun-Peng, Song, Yao-Bin, Dong, Ming
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9618961/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36325570
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.996750
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author Li, Tian-Xiang
Shen-Tu, Xiao-Lu
Xu, Li
Zhang, Wei-Jun
Duan, Jun-Peng
Song, Yao-Bin
Dong, Ming
author_facet Li, Tian-Xiang
Shen-Tu, Xiao-Lu
Xu, Li
Zhang, Wei-Jun
Duan, Jun-Peng
Song, Yao-Bin
Dong, Ming
author_sort Li, Tian-Xiang
collection PubMed
description Plant intraspecific trait variation (ITV) including sex-dependent differences are matters of many ecological consequences, from individual to ecosystem, especially in endangered and rare species. Taxus fuana is an endangered dioecious species with small and isolated populations endemic to the Himalayas region. Little is known about its trait variation between sexes, and among populations. In this study, 18 leaf traits from 179 reproductive trees (males and females) along the altitude (2600-3200m a.s.l.) of the T. fuana populations distributed in Gyirong County, Tibet, China, were measured. ITV and sources of variation in leaf traits were assessed. The relationship between leaf traits of males and females and altitude was analyzed separately. Variations in leaf traits of T. fuana ranged from 3.1% to 24.2%, with the smallest in leaf carbon content and the largest in leaf thickness to area ratio. On average 78.13% of the variation in leaf traits was from within populations and 21.87% among populations. The trends in leaf width, leaf nitrogen to phosphorus ratio, leaf carbon to nitrogen ratio, leaf carbon isotope ratio, and leaf nitrogen isotope ratio in relation to altitude were the same for males and females. Leaf length to width ratio varied significantly with altitude only in males, while leaf phosphorus content, leaf nitrogen content, and leaf carbon to phosphorus ratio varied significantly with altitude only in females. The correlation coefficients of most leaf traits of females with altitude were larger than that of males. In the relationship between leaf traits, there was a high similarity among males and females, but the altitude accounted for more explanation in females than in males. Our results suggested that the variation in leaf traits of T. fuana was small and did not dominate the interspecific competition in the local communities. Adaptation to the altitude gradient of T. fuana might be through altering nutrient storage processes and water use efficiency. Adaptation of male and female T. fuana to environmental changes showed differences, where the males were more tolerant and the females responded greatly to altitude. The differences in adaptation strategies between male and female T. fuana may be detrimental to the maintenance of their populations.
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spelling pubmed-96189612022-11-01 Intraspecific and sex-dependent variation of leaf traits along altitude gradient in the endangered dioecious tree Taxus fuana Nan Li & R.R. Mill Li, Tian-Xiang Shen-Tu, Xiao-Lu Xu, Li Zhang, Wei-Jun Duan, Jun-Peng Song, Yao-Bin Dong, Ming Front Plant Sci Plant Science Plant intraspecific trait variation (ITV) including sex-dependent differences are matters of many ecological consequences, from individual to ecosystem, especially in endangered and rare species. Taxus fuana is an endangered dioecious species with small and isolated populations endemic to the Himalayas region. Little is known about its trait variation between sexes, and among populations. In this study, 18 leaf traits from 179 reproductive trees (males and females) along the altitude (2600-3200m a.s.l.) of the T. fuana populations distributed in Gyirong County, Tibet, China, were measured. ITV and sources of variation in leaf traits were assessed. The relationship between leaf traits of males and females and altitude was analyzed separately. Variations in leaf traits of T. fuana ranged from 3.1% to 24.2%, with the smallest in leaf carbon content and the largest in leaf thickness to area ratio. On average 78.13% of the variation in leaf traits was from within populations and 21.87% among populations. The trends in leaf width, leaf nitrogen to phosphorus ratio, leaf carbon to nitrogen ratio, leaf carbon isotope ratio, and leaf nitrogen isotope ratio in relation to altitude were the same for males and females. Leaf length to width ratio varied significantly with altitude only in males, while leaf phosphorus content, leaf nitrogen content, and leaf carbon to phosphorus ratio varied significantly with altitude only in females. The correlation coefficients of most leaf traits of females with altitude were larger than that of males. In the relationship between leaf traits, there was a high similarity among males and females, but the altitude accounted for more explanation in females than in males. Our results suggested that the variation in leaf traits of T. fuana was small and did not dominate the interspecific competition in the local communities. Adaptation to the altitude gradient of T. fuana might be through altering nutrient storage processes and water use efficiency. Adaptation of male and female T. fuana to environmental changes showed differences, where the males were more tolerant and the females responded greatly to altitude. The differences in adaptation strategies between male and female T. fuana may be detrimental to the maintenance of their populations. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9618961/ /pubmed/36325570 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.996750 Text en Copyright © 2022 Li, Shen-Tu, Xu, Zhang, Duan, Song and Dong https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Li, Tian-Xiang
Shen-Tu, Xiao-Lu
Xu, Li
Zhang, Wei-Jun
Duan, Jun-Peng
Song, Yao-Bin
Dong, Ming
Intraspecific and sex-dependent variation of leaf traits along altitude gradient in the endangered dioecious tree Taxus fuana Nan Li & R.R. Mill
title Intraspecific and sex-dependent variation of leaf traits along altitude gradient in the endangered dioecious tree Taxus fuana Nan Li & R.R. Mill
title_full Intraspecific and sex-dependent variation of leaf traits along altitude gradient in the endangered dioecious tree Taxus fuana Nan Li & R.R. Mill
title_fullStr Intraspecific and sex-dependent variation of leaf traits along altitude gradient in the endangered dioecious tree Taxus fuana Nan Li & R.R. Mill
title_full_unstemmed Intraspecific and sex-dependent variation of leaf traits along altitude gradient in the endangered dioecious tree Taxus fuana Nan Li & R.R. Mill
title_short Intraspecific and sex-dependent variation of leaf traits along altitude gradient in the endangered dioecious tree Taxus fuana Nan Li & R.R. Mill
title_sort intraspecific and sex-dependent variation of leaf traits along altitude gradient in the endangered dioecious tree taxus fuana nan li & r.r. mill
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9618961/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36325570
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2022.996750
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