Biodiv Sci-Channel: Original Papers: Plant Diversity Channel: Original Papers: Plant Diversity http://www.biodiversity-science.net EN-US http://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/current.shtml http://www.biodiversity-science.net 5 <![CDATA[Plant diversity and species replacement in Chinese Buddhist temples]]> Buddhism is one of the main religions in China. As the material carrier of Buddhist culture, Buddhist temples play an important role in preserving regional biodiversity. In this study, we cataloged the tree species in 191 temples across China. Then, we analyzed the species composition, geographical distribution pattern, and the impact factors of Buddhist tree species distribution in different regions to clarify the role of temples in biodiversity conservation. The results showed that: (1) From across 191 temples, we observed a total of 1,059 tree species, belonging to 116 families and 410 genera with most species (n = 773) occurred in only one or two temples. (2) Temple gardens were rich in native and threatened tree species (n = 94), and thus, are of high biodiversity conservation value. (3) The tree species composition of Buddhist temples in different climatic zones was quite different. (4) Tree species across temples had a distinct replacement phenomenon where original Buddhist tree species were gradually replaced by native species similar to the native flora, from south to north. The above results suggest that Chinese temples have very rich plant resource and that their effective protection may play a positive role in maintaining regional biodiversity and improving urban greening.

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<![CDATA[Phenotypic plasticity of <i>Alternanthera philoxeroides</i> in response to root neighbors of kin: Introduced vs. native genotypes]]> Plant root neighbors can induce plastic responses, thereby altering root biomass allocation and other functional traits even while available resources remain constant. The evolution of plasticity hypothesis demonstrates that populations in the introduced range of an invasive species have evolved greater plasticity than populations in the native range. Most studies focus on plastic responses of alien plants to light, water, nutrition and nature enemies. However, plastic responses to root neighbors in alien plants has not been studied. We conducted a common garden experiment using five introduced (the United States of America, USA) and five native (Argentina) genotypes of Alternanthera philoxeroides (alligator weed) to compare fitness and functional traits responses to root neighbors of the same genotype plants (kin). We found that introduced genotypes had an increased root to shoot ratio (RSR) and specific leaf area (SLA) when root neighbors were present while the native genotypes showed the opposite responses. However, introduced and native genotypes showed no difference in total biomass, storage root biomass, specific stem length (SSL) and branching intensity (BI). In addition, when root neighbors were present, A. philoxeroides increased in total biomass (+9.9%) and storage root biomass (+13.9%) and decreased in SSL (-9.5%) than when grown without root neighbors. Introduced genotypes showed an increase in total biomass (+62.0%), storage root biomass (+58.9%), and reduction of SSL (-28.5%) and BI (-42.8%) than native genotypes. Our results suggest that functional trait plasticity responses related to resource utilization (i.e. RSR and SLA) showed opposite patterns between introduced and native genotypes, but fitness and functional trait plasticity responses related to plant type (i.e. SSL and BI) showed no difference among introduced and native genotypes.

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<![CDATA[Species diversity and environmental interpretation of herb layer in lava platform of Wudalianchi, China]]> The Wudalianchi volcanic lava platform, a volcanic landscape, is important to understand plant community mechanisms to volcanic primary succession. In this paper, the herbaceous species of the Wudalianchi volcanic lava platform were studied, which belonged to bryophyte, herb, shrub, mixed-forest, and mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forest plots. Soil nutrients and soil moisture were also studied with the canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) method along with species diversity indices such as the Simpson, Shannon-Wiener, Pielou, and species richness indices. Our results show that: (1) There were 56 plant species in the herb layer, accounting for 82.35% of the total species in the volcanic platform while diversity, dominance, and evenness indices of the herb layer was higher than other vegetation types. (2) Soil pH had a considerable influence on species richness and spatial distribution of herbaceous species in the herb layer. (3) Soil factors accounted for 79.39% of the community’s distribution, among which soil pH, available phosphorus, nitrate nitrogen, and ammonium nitrogen accounted for a large proportion. (4) Patrinia rupestris, Artemisia sacrorum, Poa sphondylodes, and Ixeris chinensis had low environmental requirements and adapted uniquely to the poor environment of the lava platform. Vegetation within the platform showed specific resource demands, which are due to differences in lava type that alter soil water, pH, and soil nutrients, thereby impacting plant community distributions.

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