Leaf physiological plasticity in Schima superba and Schima argentea is related to ecological niche width under varied altitude gradients

Plasticity magnitude may affect the distribution and adaptability of species in altitude gradients. The term is broadly defined as the adaptability of organisms to alter their morphological and physiological traits in response to varying environments. Morphological and physiological plasticity may have different mechanisms and resource costs. However, our understanding of the mechanisms by which plasticity affects species’ adaptation to altitude changes is limited. This study focused on the differences in the leaf traits of Schima superba (narrow ecological niche) and S. argentea (wider ecological niche) in response to altitude gradients. It also explored the adaptive strategies and mechanisms behind the plasticity of morphological and physiological traits under similar environmental pressures. The interaction between altitude and species significantly impacted morphological traits, such as leaf thickness, width, and mass, and physiological traits, suc..., All data were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 software (IBM, NY, USA). Before statistical analysis, the Shapiro–Wilk test was applied to assess data normality, and the Bartlett test was applied for homogeneity of variances. Tukey’s HSD test following one-way ANOVA was used to compare the differences in leaf morphology and physiological traits of each species at different altitude gradients. The final data presented are the means ± standard error. For morphology and physiological traits, two-way ANOVA was conducted for the effects of species, altitude gradients, and their interactions. A paired t-test was applied to examine the difference in RDPIs and average RDPIs of morphological and physiological traits among species. The Origin 2020 software (https://www.originlab.com/) was used for data visualization.
Relative distances plasticity index (RDPI) was used to quantify the plasticity of individual traits for each species, wit..., , # Leaf physiological plasticity in Schima superba and Schima argentea is related to ecological niche width under varied altitude gradients

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.rr4xgxdjr](10.5061/dryad.rr4xgxdjr)

## Description of the data and file structure

### Files and variables

#### File: Leaf_physiological_plasticity_in_Schima_superba_and_Schima_argentea_is_related_to_ecological_niche_width_under_varied_altitude_gradients.xls

**Description:** 

Hunan Nanshan National Park (26°01′–26°21′N, 109°59′–110°33′E) is located at the Nanling Mountain peaks, at an intersection of the east–west and north–south mountains in China, across the evergreen broad-leaved forests of the eco-geographical regions of the hilly basin on the south bank of the Yangtze River and Wuling Mountain. The region is located in the central subtropical zone, with a subtropical and monsoon humid climate dominated by mountains. The terrain varies greatly in altitude (425–1946 m). It is successively divided into subtropical e...,