Earticle

초록

영어

Leaf functional traits widely have been used to understand the environmental controls of resource utilization strategy of plants along the environmental gradients. By using key leaf functional traits, we quantified the relationships between leaf traits and local climate throughout the distributional range of Rhododendron caucasicum Pall. in eastern and western Georgian mountains (the South Caucasus). Our results revealed, that all traits showed high levels of intraspecific variability across study locations and confirmed a strong phenotypic differentiation of leaf functional variation along the east-west longitudinal gradient in response to the local climate; out of the explored climatic variables, the moisture factors related to precipitation and number of precipitation and dry days for winter and growth seasons were more strongly related to leaf trait variation than the elevation and air temperature. Among studied leaf traits, the leaf specific area (SLA) showed the highest level of variability indicating the different resource utilization strategies of eastern and western-central Rh. caucasicum individuals. High SLA leaves for western-central Caucasian individuals work in relatively resource-rich environments (more humid in terms of precipitation amount and the number of precipitation days in winter) and could be explained by preferential allocation to photosynthesis and growth, while eastern Caucasian samples work in resource-poor environments (less humid in terms of precipitation amount and the number of precipitation days in winter) and the retention of captured resources is a higher priority appearing in a low SLA leaves. However, more evidence from a broader study of the species throughout its distribution range by including additional environmental factors and molecular markers are needed for firmer conclusions of intraspecific variability of Rh. caucasicum.

목차

Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Methods
Material
Climatic variables
Leaf traits
Data analysis
Results
Leaf trait variability
Comparison of leaf traits variability among study locations
Influence of the climate on the variability of the leaf traits
Discussion and Conclusion
References

키워드

저자

• Jana Ekhvaia [ Alpine Ecosystems Research Program, Institute of Ecology, School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Ilia State University, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia ] Corresponding Author
• Arsena Bakhia [ Alpine Ecosystems Research Program, Institute of Ecology, School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Ilia State University, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia ]
• Zezva Asanidze [ Alpine Ecosystems Research Program, Institute of Ecology, School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Ilia State University, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia ]
• Tornike Beltadze [ Alpine Ecosystems Research Program, Institute of Ecology, School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Ilia State University, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia ]
• Otar Abdaladze [ Alpine Ecosystems Research Program, Institute of Ecology, School of Life Sciences and Medicine, Ilia State University, Tbilisi 0162, Georgia ]

참고문헌

발행기관

간행물

표지보기 관심저널 등록

• 간행물명

  Journal of Forest and Environmental Science [산림과학연구]

• 간기

  계간

• pISSN

  2288-9744

• eISSN

  2288-9752

• 수록기간

  1981~2026

• 등재여부

  KCI 등재

• 십진분류

  KDC 526 DDC 634