3.2 Response of functional traits to environmental variables
Partial correlations were conducted to determine the relationships between environmental variables and functional traits (Table 2). The results indicated that functional traits could better respond to changes in electrical conductivity than soil water content. The average height, specific leaf area, leaf area, pitch number, internode height, and base stem diameter were significantly negatively correlated with electrical conductivity (P<0.01), while significantly positive relationships were only discovered between soil water content and leaf water content, and between electrical conductivity and leaf water content and leaf thickness (P<0.05). When compared with plant traits and leaf traits, the relationship between stem traits and environmental variables was much closer.
Table2.Partial correlation coefficient matrix between environmental variables and selected functional traits (plant traits, leaf traits, and stem traits) of P. australis .