title: Leaf morphological and anatomical traits from tropical to temperate coniferous forests: Mechanisms and influencing factors.
abstract: Leaf traits may reflect the adaptation mechanisms of plants to the environment. In this study, we investigated leaf morphological and anatomical traits in nine cold-temperate to tropical forests along a 4,200-km transect to test how they vary across latitudinal gradients. The results showed that leaf dry weight decreased (P < 0.05), while specific leaf area (SLA) increased (P < 0.05) with increasing latitude. Stomatal length and stomatal density did not change significantly, while stomatal pore area index increased (P < 0.05) with increasing latitude. The palisade-leaf mesophyll thickness ratio increased (P < 0.01), while the spongy-leaf mesophyll thickness ratio decreased, with increasing latitude (P < 0.01). Climate and leaf nutrients were the main factors that regulated leaf morphological and anatomical traits. Furthermore, we identified positive correlations between leaf area and leaf dry weight, leaf thickness and palisade mesophyll thickness, but negative correlations between stomatal length and stomatal density (all P < 0.01). The observed negative correlations represented the adaptive mechanisms of leaves through their morphological and anatomical traits. These findings provided new insights into the responses of leaf morphological and anatomical traits to climate changes and important parameters for future model optimization.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.|The Key Laboratory for Forest Resources &Ecosystem Processes of Beijing, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Guirui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
authors.forename: Nianpeng
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Forest Resources &Ecosystem Processes of Beijing, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Jihua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hou
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D065928:Forests; D005843:Geography; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D054046:Plant Stomata / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D064028:Tracheophyta / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D012987:Soil