title: Contrasting effects of plant inter- and intraspecific variation on community trait responses to restoration of a sandy grassland ecosystem.
abstract: Changes in plant community traits along an environmental gradient are caused by interspecific and intraspecific trait variation. However, little is known about the role of interspecific and intraspecific trait variation in plant community responses to the restoration of a sandy grassland ecosystem. We measured five functional traits of 34 species along a restoration gradient of sandy grassland (mobile dune, semi-fixed dune, fixed dune, and grassland) in Horqin Sand Land, northern China. We examined how community-level traits varied with habitat changes and soil gradients using both abundance-weighted and non-weighted averages of trait values. We quantified the relative contribution of inter- and intraspecific trait variation in specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf carbon content (LCC), leaf nitrogen content (LNC), and plant height to the community response to habitat changes in the restoration of sandy grassland. We found that five weighted community-average traits varied significantly with habitat changes. Along the soil gradient in the restoration of sandy grassland, plant height, SLA, LDMC, and LCC increased, while LNC decreased. For all traits, there was a greater contribution of interspecific variation to community response in regard to habitat changes relative to that of intraspecific variation. The relative contribution of the interspecific variation effect of an abundance-weighted trait was greater than that of a non-weighted trait with regard to all traits except LDMC. A community-level trait response to habitat changes was due largely to species turnover. Though the intraspecific shift plays a small role in community trait response to habitat changes, it has an effect on plant coexistence and the maintenance of herbaceous plants in sandy grassland habitats. The context dependency of positive and negative covariation between inter- and intraspecific variation further suggests that both effects of inter- and intraspecific variation on a community trait should be considered when understanding a plant community response to environmental changes in sandy grassland ecosystems.
authors.affiliation: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China; Laboratory of Stress Ecophysiology and Biotechnology (LSEB) NIEER, CAS Lanzhou China.
authors.forename: Xiaoan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zuo
authors.affiliation: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China.
authors.forename: Xiyuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.affiliation: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: National Hulunber Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Beijing China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China.
authors.forename: Yongqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China.
authors.forename: Shaokun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources Chinese Academy of Sciences Lanzhou China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: Community weighted traits; functional traits; interspecific and intraspecific variation; sandy grassland ecosystem; soil gradient; vegetation restoration