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eISSN: 2083-5906
ISSN: 1230-1485
ISSN: 1230-1485
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Adaptation of Leaf Functional Traits
of Alpine Meadow Plants to Environmental
Factors in the Qilian Mountains
1
College of Forestry, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China
2
College of Energy and Power Engineering, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China
3
Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin Gansu/Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering Research
Center, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Submission date: 2025-02-18
Final revision date: 2025-04-24
Acceptance date: 2025-06-24
Online publication date: 2025-09-15
Corresponding author
Zongxing Li
Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin Gansu/Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering Research
Key Laboratory of Ecohydrology of Inland River Basin Gansu/Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering Research
KEYWORDS
ecological restorationplant functional traitsinfluencing mechanismenvironmental factorsQilian mountains region
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
This study systematically explored the relationship between leaf functional traits and environmental
factors based on 78 quadrats arranged and 35 dominant species of plants investigated in July 2021 in the
Qilian Mountains. The results showed significant differences in plant functional traits among different
vegetation types. The average values of the nitrogen balance index (NBI), chlorophyll content (Chl),
leaf width (LW), flavonol content (Flv), leaf area (LA), and leaf circumference (LC) for shrubs were
lower than those of herbs, while the average values of NBI, LA, Chl, LW, Flv, and LC for trees were
lower than those of shrubs. The NBI had an obvious positive relationship with Chl, whether for herbs
or shrubs and trees, while the NBI had a significant negative relationship with anthocyanin content
(Anth) for herbs. The soil temperature decreased from 0-20 cm (20.26ºC) to 80-100 cm (14.9ºC),
and the soil temperature of 60-80 cm was equivalent to 80-100 cm. Compared with herbs, shrubs are
tall and have higher requirements for the growth environment. The growth and chlorophyll content
of shrubs decreased with an increase in altitude. Like herbs and shrubs, trees had significant altitude
differences in cold regions. The direct influencing factors of leaf functional traits of plants are climate
and soil conditions in cold regions, while the indirect factors are mainly geospatial variations, local
environment, and underlying surface conditions.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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| eISSN: | 2083-5906 |
| ISSN: | 1230-1485 |
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