Parashorea chinensis is one of the iconic flagship species in China's tropical regions. With its enormous carbon storage and efficient carbon sequestration rate, it plays an irreplaceable role in mitigating the continuous increase of CO2. Leaves are crucial organs for carbon-water coupling, and exploring the differences in leaf functional traits can intuitively reflect the response of Parashorea chinensis to environmental changes. However, systematic studies on multidimensional trait combinations of Parashorea chinensis are still relatively lacking.
In a study published inFrontiers in Plant Science, researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) and Yunnan University assessed key leaf economics and hydraulic traits of adult trees of P. chinensis at three heights and addressed whether variation in leaf photosynthetic traits is determined by tree height, different measurements and their interaction.
They examined the variability and correlation of 14 leaf functional traits in four categories, including morphological structure, photosynthetic physiology, water physiology, and nutrient elements, at different crown heights of individual Sky-gazing trees based on canopy tower cranes at the Xishuangbanna Ecological Station.
In-situ measurements revealed that most leaf functional traits of individual-to-individual P. chinensis varied significantly at different canopy heights. Leaf hydraulic traits such as midday leaf water potential (MWP) and leaf osmotic potential (OP) were insignificantly correlated with leaf photosynthetic physiological traits such as maximal net assimilation rate per mass (Amass). In addition, great discrepancies were found between in-situ and ex-situ measurements of photosynthetic parameters.
"These findings provided insights into our understanding of the response mechanisms of P. chinensis to micro-habitat in Xishuangbanna tropical seasonal rainforests and the fine scale adaption of different resultant of decoupled traits, which have implications for understanding ecological adaption strategies of P. chinensis under environmental changes,” said LU Huazheng of XTBG.
Contact
LU Huazheng Ph.D
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China
E-mail:luhuazheng@xtbg.org.cn
Published: 29 January 2024
