Convergent Variations in the Leaf Traits of Desert Plants

Overview

Journal Plants (Basel)

Date 2020 Aug 8

PMID 32759791

Citations 9

Authors

Muhammad Adnan Akram

Xiaoting Wang

Weigang Hu

Junlan Xiong

Yahui Zhang

Yan Deng

Jinzhi Ran

Jianming Deng

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Convergence is commonly caused by environmental filtering, severe climatic conditions and local disturbance. The basic aim of the present study was to understand the pattern of leaf traits across diverse desert plant species in a common garden, in addition to determining the effect of plant life forms (PLF), such as herb, shrub and subshrub, phylogeny and soil properties on leaf traits. Six leaf traits, namely carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), δC and leaf water potential (LWP) of 37 dominant desert plant species were investigated and analyzed. The C, N, K and δC concentrations in leaves of shrubs were found higher than herbs and subshrubs; however, P and LWP levels were higher in the leaves of subshrubs following herbs and shrubs. Moreover, leaf C showed a significant positive correlation with N and a negative correlation with δC. Leaf N exhibited a positive correlation with P. The relationship between soil and plant macro-elements was found generally insignificant but soil C and N exhibited a significant positive correlation with leaf P. Taxonomy showed a stronger effect on leaf C, N, P and δC than soil properties, explaining >50% of the total variability. C plants showed higher leaf C, N, P, K and LWP concentration than C plants, whereas C plants had higher δC than C plants. Legumes exhibited higher leaf C, N, K and LWP than nonlegumes, while nonlegumes had higher P and δC concentration than legumes. In all the species, significant phylogenetic signals (PS) were detected for C and N and nonsignificant PS for the rest of the leaf traits. In addition, these phylogenetic signals were found lower (-value < 1), and the maximum -value was noted for C ( = 0.35). The plants of common garden evolved and adapted themselves for their survival in the arid environment and showed convergent variations in their leaf traits. However, these variations were not phylogenetics-specific. Furthermore, marks of convergence found in leaf traits of the study area were most likely due to the environmental factors.

Citing Articles

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