PJB-2025-222
Climate and soil effects on key leaf functional traits in western Himalaya, Pakistan
Jianbin Deng
Abstract
The consequences of climate related soil properties on vegetation dynamics are predicted to alter existing plant adaptation patterns, making it vital to understand natural vegetation adaptive potential and related ecological limitations. Here, we used climatic and edaphic gradient to see the overall impacts of these factors on different leaf traits and to see how plant traits respond to these factors through alteration in structure and functions. We analyzed the response of eleven leaf functional traits in subtropical vegetation in western part of Himalaya by using multiple linear mixed effect models and generalized additive mixed model for each response variable. We found that temperature and precipitation had negative influence on leaf economic traits i.e., specific leaf area, dry matter content but positively impacted leaf thickness and spongy tissue ratio. Likewise, in hydraulic traits, temperature was positively related to stomatal density and stomatal length and stomatal pore index increased with precipitation. Precipitation increased proline content and temperature declined total soluble sugars. Besides, phosphorus had significant impact on specific leaf area and total soluble sugars while total organic matter and total nitrogen enhanced leaf dry matter, leaf thickness, stomatal density, and cell tense ratio. Dry matter and stomatal density varied significantly in plant functional types i.e., herbs, shrubs, trees, and grasses. We also found that correlation between leaf traits was unpredictable and unconstrained indicating that leaf traits are not fully synchronized but have choice to vary independently. These findings suggest that leaf traits showed differential response against climatic and edaphic gradient thus differ greatly in their adaptability. Climatic and edaphic factors have differential impacts on leaf traits differ greatly in adaptability and leaf trait variations are mainly driven by temperature and water-related factors in addition to soil factors. This study holds ecological significance as it enhances our understanding of how environmental factors mediate biodiversity patterns and ecosystem functioning in these crucial ecosystems. This knowledge can aid to conservation efforts and ecosystem management strategies in the face of ongoing global environmental change.
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