Unveiling the adaptation strategies of woody plants in remnant forest patches to spatiotemporal urban expansion through leaf trait networks

Background:With the expansion of urban areas,the remnants of forested areas play a crucial role in preserving biodiversity in urban environments.This study aimed to explore the impact of spatiotemporal urban expansion on the networks of leaf traits in woody plants within remnant forest patches,thereby enhancing our understanding of plant adaptive strategies and contributing to the conservation of urban biodiversity.Methods:Our study examined woody plants within 120 sample plots across 15 remnant forest patches in Guiyang,China.We constructed leaf trait networks (LTNs) based on 26 anatomical,structural,and compositional leaf traits and assessed the effects of the spatiotemporal dynamics of urban expansion on these LTNs.Results and conclusions:Our results indicate that shrubs within these patches have greater average path lengths and diameters than trees.With increasing urban expansion intensity,we observed a rise in the edge density of the LTN-shrubs.Additionally,modularity within the networks of shrubs decreased as road density and urban expansion intensity increased,and increases in the average path length and average clustering coefficient for shrubs were observed with a rise in the composite terrain complexity index.Notably,patches subjected to‘leapfrog’expansion exhibited greater average patch length and diameter than those experiencing edge growth.Stomatal traits were found to have high degree centrality within these networks,signifying their substantial contribution to multiple functions.In urban remnant forests,shrubs bolster their resilience to variable environmental pressures by augmenting the complexity of their leaf trait networks.

Fluctuating resources,disturbance and plant strategies:diverse mechanisms underlying plant invasions

This paper examines the hypothesis that non-native plant invasions are related to fluctuating resource availability as proposed by Davis et al. （2000）. I measured relative functional responses of both invasive and native plants to changed resource availability due to nutrient enrichment and rainfall, and to increased disturbance. Data are presented from studies in two contrasting ecosystems. First is a series of glasshouse and field experiments on the invader Hieracium lepidulum and associated invasive and native species in subalpine temperate New Zealand. Second is a field study of invasive and native plant responses to altered disturbance regimes and rainfall from tropical savannas of north eastern Australia. Invaders responded differently from native species to changes in resource availability in both subalpine and tropical studies. However, invaders differed among themselves showing that different species exploit different functional niches to invade their respective habitats. These findings contribute to the contention that the fluctuating resource hypothesis does not provide a universal explanation for plant invasions. The diverse functional responses to increased resource availability among invaders in this and previous studies suggest that the cause of invasion depends on unique combinations of habitat and functional attributes of invaders and native assemblages. Such findings imply that universal predictions of what will happen under climate change scenarios across the globe will be difficult to make.

Role of Wind-Sand Disturbance in the Formation and Development of Tamarix taklamakanensis Community

Formation, development and degeneration of Tamarix taklamakanensis M.T. Liu community may be affected by wind-sand disturbance. On the basis of field survey and experiments that took eight years from 1994, it was found that the plant community was formed in wet and low-lying land, developed in sand burying land, and died out in the land with strong wind erosion and severe sand burying. In the initial stage of the community formation, the low-lying land that was formed by wind erosion provided a suitable habitat for seed germination and plant rooting, but salt stress from ground water reduced seedling survival rate. In the developing stage of the community, sand burying stimulated vigorous growth of the shrubs. In the degenerative stage of the community, the wind erosion and sand burying resulted in dying out of the shrubs. It is therefore concluded that wind-sand disturbance has a positive role in the formation and development of the community, and is in a close association with the process of the community degeneration. Taking the habitat of T taklamakanensis into account, it may be appropriate to note that, under the conditions of frequent disturbance and severe stress, desert pioneer species are adaptable and able to survive. This might be a supplement to the CSR strategy.

Stand biomass of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica plantations benefits from high density monocultures in the boreal zone

Pinus sylvestris var.mongolica(P.sylvestris)plantations are extensively established in the boreal zone.Increasing stand biomass of these plantations can effectively enhance carbon stock,which is crucial for mitigating climate change.However,the current understanding of optimizing plantation strategies to maximize stand biomass is primarily derived from experiments in tropical and subtropical zones,which is difficult to extend to the boreal due to substantial climatic differences.Based on a comprehensive dataset from 1,076 sample plots of P.sylvestris plantations in the boreal zone of China,we evaluated the effects of tree species richness and stand density on tree height,diameter at breast height(DBH),and stand biomass to investigate the optimal plantation strategy.Furthermore,we examined how these effects changed with stand age and investigated their relative importance.We found that monocultures at a high stand density of 2,000–2,500​ha^(−1) were the optimal plantation strategy to maximize stand biomass(107.5​Mg·ha^(−1)),and this held true at almost all stand ages.Unfortunately,this strategy resulted in low species richness and small individual trees(10.6​m height and 9.8​cm DBH),thus presenting a trade-off.In addition,as stand age increased,the effect of tree species richness on stand biomass shifted from positive to negative,but the effect of stand density was always positive.Overall,stand age had the greatest effect on stand biomass,followed by stand density and then tree species richness.Our findings reveal a distinct plantation strategy for optimizing stand biomass of P.sylvestris plantations in the boreal zone.More importantly,this study highlights that(1)maximizing stand biomass in the boreal zone may compromise tree species richness;(2)net effects of tree species richness on stand biomass are not always positive,as negative selection effects offset positive complementary effects.

Saving Our Planet's Flora,the Contribution of the French National Natural History Museum to the Implementation of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation

The National Natural History Museum plays a key role in the implementation of the GSPC through its botanical gardens,the Conservatoire Botanique National du Bassin Parisien,the Herbarium,and also by providing expertise on all areas of the Strategy(botany,conservation,ethonobotany,article 8j,substainable use),etc.For 2 of the goals of GSPC(conserving plant diversity,Understanding and Documenting Plant Diversity),the Muséum has developed activities all over the world,including compilation of various flora and description of new species,as well as establishment of plant conservation schemes and habitat protection policies.It also conserves endangered species in the botanical garden.

Plant Conservation in the Future:New Challenges,New Opportunities

Throughout the world,plant diversity is being reduced rapidly by the extinction of species and of local differentiated populations.In presenting possible solutions to this very serious problem I will first briefly describe the factors that have led to the development of China's wealth of biodiversity;then examine the causes of extinction,with an emphasis on the situation in China;and conclude with recommendations on how to most effectively conserve plants in this huge and botanically diverse country.

Effect of Nitrogen Supply on the Nitrogen Use Efficiency of an Annual Herb, Helianthus annuus L.

Abstract: Nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is the product of nitrogen productivity (NP) and the mean residence time of nitrogen (MRT). Theory suggests that there should be a trade-off between both components, but direct experimental evidence is still scarce. To test this hypothesis, we analyzed the effect of varying nitrogen supply levels on NUE and its two components (NP, MRT) in Helianthus annuus L., an annual herb. The plants investigated were subjected to six nitrogen levels (0, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 g N/m2). Total plant production increased substantially with increasing nitrogen supply. Nitrogen uptake and loss also increased with nitrogen supply. Nitrogen influx (rin) and outflux (rout) were defined as the rates of nitrogen uptake and loss per unit aboveground nitrogen, respectively. Both rm and rout increased with increasing nitrogen supply. In addition, rm was far higher than rout. Consequently, the relative rate of nitrogen increment (rin-rout) also increased with nitrogen supply. There were marked differences between treatments with respect to parameters related to the stress resistance syndrome: nitrogen pool size, leaf nitrogen concentration, and net aboveground productivity increased with nitrogen supply. Plants at high nitrogen levels showed a higher NP (the growth rate per unit aboveground nitrogen) and a shorter MRT (the inverse of rout), whereas plants at low nitrogen levels displayed the reverse pattern. Shorter MRT for plants at high nitrogen levels was caused by the abscission of leaves that contained relatively large fractions of total plant nitrogen. We found a negative relationship between NP and MRT, the components of NUE, along the gradient of nitrogen availability, suggesting that there was a trade-off between NP and MRT. The NUE increased with increasing nitrogen availability, up to a certain level, and then decreased. These results offer support for the hypothesis that adaptation to infertile habitats involves a low nitrogen loss (long MRT in the plant) rather than a high NUE per se. The higher NUE at the plant level was a result, in part, of greater nitrogen resorption during senescence. We suggest that a long MRT (an index of nitrogen conservation) is a potentially successful strategy in nitrogen-poor environments.

A comprehensive framework for seasonal controls of leaf abscission and productivity in evergreen broadleaved tropical and subtropical forests

Relationships among productivity,leaf phenology,and seasonal variation in moisture and light availability are poorly understood for evergreen broadleaved tropical/subtropical forests,which contribute 25% of terrestrial productivity.On the one hand,as moisture availability declines,trees shed leaves to reduce transpiration and the risk of hydraulic failure.On the other hand,increases in light availability promote the replacement of senescent leaves to increase productivity.Here,we provide a comprehensive framework that relates the seasonality of climate,leaf abscission,and leaf productivity across the evergreen broadleaved tropical/subtropical forest biome.The seasonal correlation between rainfall and light availability varies from strongly negative to strongly positive across the tropics and maps onto the seasonal correlation between litterfall mass and productivity for 68 forests.Where rainfall and light covary positively,litterfall and productivity also covary positively and are always greater in the wetter sunnier season.Where rainfall and light covary negatively,litterfall and productivity are always greater in the drier and sunnier season if moisture supplies remain adequate;otherwise productivity is smaller in the drier sunnier season.This framework will improve the representation of tropical/subtropical forests in Earth system models and suggests how phenology and productivity will change as climate change alters the seasonality of cloud cover and rainfall across tropical/subtropical forests.