Temperature, not precipitation, drives the morphological traits of Didymodon rigidulus in Tibet

作者：Ling Liu, Yanbin Jiang, Xiaotong Song, Jiwang Tang, Jin Kou, Yingjie Fan, Xiaoming Shao · 发表于：Ecological Indicators · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.108401 · 被引用次数：16 · 研究领域：Biocrusts and Microbial Ecology、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics、Lichen and fungal ecology

Plant traits reflect the response and adaptation of plants to environmental changes and play important roles in the prediction of the effects of different environmental conditions on plants and plant-mediated processes. However, few studies have focused on the traits of nonvascular plants, such as bryophytes, although such plants are important participants in the primary productivity and biogeochemistry in harsh environments. In this study, the adaptive morphological traits and their interactions in the moss species that adapt to harsh and acute changeable environment were determined. Environmental factors that drive the changes in these traits were also evaluated. A total of 43 specimens of Didymodon rigidulus were collected from 38 sampling sites in arid and semi-arid regions in Tibet. Twelve morphological traits were investigated by microscope measurement, and then their interrelations and relations to environmental variables were quantified by employing Spearman’s correlation analysis, hierarchical partitioning analysis, and partial least squares path modeling. Results showed that along with the environmental gradient, the plant height, leaves, and cells of D. rigidulus had changed significantly, and these parameters were largely interpretable in functional and adaptive terms. The lower the mean annual temperature (MAT) was, the thicker was the surface cell wall and the wider was the cell cavity of D. rigidulus. The higher potential evapotranspiration (PET) was, the thick...