Species responses to changing precipitation depends on trait plasticity rather than trait means and intraspecific variation

1. Trait-based approaches are key to develop mechanistic understanding of differences in plant species performance under environmental change. While mean trait values have been widely used to link functional traits to species performance, the contribution of intraspecific trait variation and trait plasticity remains unclear. Moreover, environmentally induced changes in species biomass is caused by changes in the number of individuals and individual growth rate, both of which should be influenced by trait differences and plasticity. Our goal in this study is to use trait-based information to explain species performance via changes in species abundance and individual weight.

2. We measured the mean, intraspecific variation and plasticity of nine aboveground plant traits, and a further three mean root traits of ten common species in a precipitation manipulation experiment in semiarid grassland. We used this trait information to explain differences in the responses of species biomass, ab...

1. 基于性状的研究方法是构建环境变化下植物物种性能差异机制性认知的核心手段。尽管学界已广泛利用平均性状值将功能性状（functional traits）与物种性能相关联，但种内性状变异（intraspecific trait variation）与性状可塑性（trait plasticity）的贡献仍未明确。此外，环境诱导的物种生物量变化源于个体数量与个体生长速率的改变，而这两者均会受到性状差异与可塑性的影响。本研究旨在借助基于性状的信息，通过物种丰度与个体重量的变化阐释物种性能。
2. 我们在半干旱草原的降水调控实验（precipitation manipulation experiment）中，测定了10个常见物种的9种地上植物性状（aboveground plant traits）的平均值、种内变异与可塑性，以及3种根系性状的平均值。本研究利用该性状数据集，阐释物种生物量响应的差异，ab...