How an environment's moisture heterogeneity affects a community's traits

Abstract

A plant’s functional traits, which aid with survival, growth, and reproduction, are shaped by different abiotic and evolutionary elements. Some communities have a larger degree of variation in their functional traits, and this study aimed to see if this variation is directly linked to the level of environmental heterogeneity. This was accomplished by looking at differing traits of plant communities at 5 different sites. The analyzed traits were SLA, LDMC, and plant height. These traits were plotted against the environmental variation (as determined by soil moisture or microclimate) to determine if there was a correlation between the two. The data indicate that there is a positive correlation between the log(sd of LDMC) and the mean sd of soil moisture, but there is no correlation between the log(sd of height) or log(sd of SLA) and the mean sd of soil moisture. This demonstrates that, in some cases, a wider range of functional diversity can be driven by greater environmental heterogeneity.

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