Disentangling biotic and abiotic drivers of intraspecific trait variation in woody plant seedlings at forest edges

In fragmented forests, edge effects can drive intraspecific variation in seedling performance that influences forest regeneration and plant composition. However, few studies have attempted to disentangle the relative biotic and abiotic drivers of intraspecific variation in seedling performance. In this study, we carried out a seedling transplant experiment with a factorial experimental design on three land-bridge islands in the Thousand Island Lake, China, using four common native woody plant species. At different distances from the forest edge (2, 8, 32, 128 m), we transplanted four seedlings of each species into each of three cages: full-cage, for herbivore-exclusion; half-cage, that allowed herbivore access but controlled for caging artefacts; and no-cage control. In the 576 cages, we recorded branch architecture, leaf traits and seedling survival for each seedling before and after the experimental treatment. Overall, after one full growing season, edge-induced abiotic drivers and va...

片段化森林中，边缘效应（edge effects）可驱动幼苗表现的种内变异（intraspecific variation），进而影响森林更新及植物组成。然而，鲜有研究尝试解析幼苗表现种内变异的生物与非生物驱动因子（biotic and abiotic drivers）的相对作用。本研究采用析因实验设计（factorial experimental design），在中国千岛湖的三座陆桥岛屿（land-bridge islands）上，以四种常见本地木本植物物种为材料开展幼苗移植实验。在距森林边缘不同距离处（2、8、32、128米），我们将每种物种的四株幼苗移植至三类笼罩中：全笼罩（用于食草动物排除（herbivore-exclusion））、半笼罩（允许食草动物进入但控制笼罩伪影（caging artefacts））及无笼罩对照。在576个笼罩中，我们记录了实验处理前后每株幼苗的枝条结构（branch architecture）、叶片性状（leaf traits）及幼苗存活率。总体而言，经过一个完整生长季后，边缘诱导的非生物驱动因子及va...