ANALYSIS OF FUNCTIONAL LEAF TRAIT VARIATION AMONG THE DOMINANT UNDERSTOREY SPECIES IN THE PINE FOREST OF MORNI HILLS, PANCHKULA, HARYANA

oleh: Himanshi, Harikesh, Somveer Jakhar

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: University of Brawijaya 2021-06-01

Deskripsi

The functionaldiversity is an essential concept in the field of ecology. It refers to the relative abundance, range, and value of the functional traits present in a given community or ecosystem. Plant functional traits (leaf traits, stem traits, root traits, etc.) create a link between an ecosystem processes and plant physiology and thus offer a powerful means to study the global change on vegetation dynamics and ecosystem processes. When plant species grownin different environments, their physiological and functional traits get modifed due to changesin site-specific con-ditions. In the present study, leaf functional traits (leaf size-LS, specific leaf area-SLA, leaf dry matter content-LDMC, leaf nitrogen content-LNC, leaf phosphorus content-LPC and leaf nitrogen to phosphorus ratio-N:P) of twelve dominant under-storey species (6 shrubs and 6 herbs) were examined in the Pine forest of Morni Hills range of lower Shivaliks, Haryana, India. During the study, the maximum value of leaf size was obtained for Murraya koenigiiand Cynoglossum zeylanicum, while the maximum value of LDMC was obtained for Toxicodendron parviflorum andDicliptera chinensisamong shrubs and herbs respectively. Other than this, highest valueof SLA, LPC and LNC were calculated for Parthenium hysteropho-rusamong shrubs and Oxalis corniculataamong herbs. The calculated values were also found to be significantly correlated among the selected plant species. The SLA was found to be negatively correlated with, LDMC and LPC whereas positively correlated with LNC and N:P. The present study represents a step forward in the direction of functional ecology performed in the forest ecosystems of Haryana. This study is essential for predicting the patterns of community assembly as well as for describing species contributions to ecosystem processes