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 .