Variation of biomass and morphology of the cushion plant Androsace tapete along an elevational gradient in the T ibetan P lateau

作者：Yongtao He, Christoph Kueffer, Peili Shi, Xianzhou Zhang, Mingyuan Du, Wei Yan, Wei Sun · 发表于：Plant Species Biology · 年份：2013 · DOI：10.1111/1442-1984.12031 · 被引用次数：13 · 研究领域：Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics、Tree-ring climate responses、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies

Abstract Alpine ecosystems are among those biomes that are most vulnerable to climate change. Cushion plants are an important life form of alpine ecosystems and will likely play a critical role for the resilience of these habitats to climate change. We studied cushion size distribution and different measures of the compactness of cushions (biomass and rosette density, leaf area index) of the cushion plant, Androsace tapete along an elevational gradient from 4500 to 5200 m a.s.l. in the N yainqentanglha M ountains of the central T ibetan P lateau. Cushion size distribution, total cover, and compactness of cushions varied substantially along the elevational gradient. At the driest site at low elevation we found the lowest total cushion cover, a particularly high proportion of very small cushions, and the most compact cushions (highest rosette and biomass densities, and leaf area index ( LAI ) per cushion). Our results indicate that in the semi‐arid Tibetan Plateau water availability is the more important climate factor than temperature affecting cushion plant traits and morphology.