A functional trait-based approach provides insight into the functional variations between and within tropical deciduous forests across large gradients of soil moisture content (SMC). To test this hypothesis, we selected nine forest fragment sites in the tropical deciduous forest of India, which exhibited significant variations in SMC. At all nine sites, we measured leaf area (LA) and specific leaf area (SLA) of the four deciduous tree species (viz., Buchanania cochinchinensis, Diospyros melanoxylon, Lagerstroemia parviflora and Terminalia tomentosa), which are commonly found in the forest region. We observed significant variations in LA and SLA for the four deciduous tree species across the nine study sites. The inter-species and within species differences were also significant. Moreover, LA and SLA of the four tree species exhibited strong positive linear relationships with SMC across the nine sites. These variations in functional traits were mainly controlled by SMC. We suggest that LA and SLA are important functional traits for detecting the effects of variations in SMC on the physiology and distribution of trees in tropical deciduous forests. Moreover, LA and SLA are the key functional traits which are linked with major ecosystem processes, therefore extensive research on these traits could help in categorizing tree communities for the proper management of tropical deciduous forest ecosystems.
Patterns of species distribution can be explained by functional traits of the dominant species and a few key environmental parameters which act as filters on the available pool of species. We performed principal component analysis (PCA) to determine which combination of functional traits best summarizes the grouping of woody species of tropical deciduous forest located in Vindhyan highlands, India. In PCA ordination, the first three axes together explained 98.9% of the between species variation (89.5%, 6.4% and 3.1% for axis 1, 2 and 3, respectively). The woody species exhibited assemblage in the ordination space on the basis of their functional traits. We observed higher leaf area index (LAI), leaf relative water content (RWC) and specific leaf area (SLA) for plant species present at moist sites, whereas, leaf dry matter content (LDMC), mass-based photosynthetic rate (A max) and leaf water use efficiency (WUEi) were found greater for the species present at dry sites. We suggest extensive investigation of functional traits and their ecological significance in grouping of plant communities in tropical deciduous forest.
Plasticity in physiological traits is necessary for the survival and development of woody species in the severe conditions of tropical dry forest. We selected five study sites in a gradient of soil moisture availability, located in dry forest of India. We identified 12 physiological traits (viz., relative water content, RWC; leaf dry matter content, LDMC; specific leaf area, SLA; leaf carbon concentration, LCC; leaf nitrogen concentration, LNC; leaf phosphorus concentration, LPC; chlorophyll concentration, Chl; stomatal conductance, Gs max ; photosynthetic rate, A max ; intrinsic water use efficiency, WUEi; biomass increment, Bio Incr; relative growth rate, RGR), which are considered important for the survival and growth of plant species in tropical dry forest, and measured their range and plasticity in woody species, including trees and shrubs, across the selected study sites. Further, we analysed the response of physiological traits to variations in soil moisture content (SMC) across species as well as across study sites. Across the five study sites, the selected traits exhibited remarkable plasticity, both within as well as among species. The associations of physiological traits with soil properties were also significant. The study shows that all physiological traits under study affect RGR directly or indirectly. However, the strength of effect is determined by environmental parameters, particularly the SMC. Step wise multiple regression indicates that more than 80% variability in RGR can be explained by SLA and WUEi alone. We suggest that for predicting the vulnerability of tropical dry forest communities to changes in climatic conditions, further investigations examining trade-offs among physiological traits and habitat conditions are needed.
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