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Exploring the generality of associations between plant functional traits: evidence within ecological groups along an altitudinal gradient in H yrcanian forest
Author(s) -
Jafari Seyed Mohammad,
Zarre Shahin,
Alavipanah Seyed Kazem,
Ghahremaninejad Farrokh
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plant species biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.419
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1442-1984
pISSN - 0913-557X
DOI - 10.1111/1442-1984.12026
Subject(s) - biology , trait , pollination , vegetation (pathology) , species evenness , ecology , vegetation type , ordination , generality , mantel test , abundance (ecology) , species diversity , grassland , pollen , medicine , psychology , biochemistry , psychotherapist , programming language , genetic variation , pathology , computer science , gene
We hypothesized that associations among plant functional traits may differ within different ecological assemblages and plant communities. Association among plant traits including plant maximum height, seed weight, fruit type, pollination mode, mean leaf area, and leaf type were explored within life forms, plant strategy groups along with lowland and montane forest vegetation. In total, 83 sampling plots of 400 m 2 were placed along a 2400 m altitudinal gradient in H yrcanian forest. Importance‐values of species within vegetation types were used for weighting data and trait associations were explored using categorical principal component analysis. A G ‐test and F isher's exact test of independence were used to retest significance of the correlations. Different paired trait associations (association lines) including height–leaf, height–seed, height–pollination, leaf–seed, seed–fruit and fruit–pollination were observed and their ecological or physiological basis was discussed. Life forms, strategy types and vegetation types differed based on association lines. Some of the well‐known trade‐offs appear by increasing scale from ecological groups to vegetation types in H yrcanian forest. The observed patterns of trait associations in H yrcanian forest and several other ecosystems of the world call the generality of previously accepted trait correlations into question.