Variations and driving factors of leaf functional traits in the dominant desert plant species along an environmental gradient in the drylands of China

Leaf functional traits (LFTs) of desert plants are responsive, adaptable and highly plastic to their environment. However, the macroscale variation in LFTs and driving factors underlying this variation remain unclear, especially for desert plants. Here, we measured eight LFTs, including leaf carbon concentration (LCC), leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC), leaf phosphorus concentration (LPC), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf thickness (LTH) and leaf tissue density (LTD) across 114 sites along environmental gradient in the drylands of China and in Guazhou Common Garden and evaluated the effect of environment and phylogeny on the LFTs. We noted that for all species, the mean values of LCC, LNC, LPC, SLA, LDMC, LMA, LTH and LTD were 384.62 mg g−1, 19.91 mg g−1, 1.12 mg g−1, 79.62 cm2 g−1, 0.74 g g−1, 237.39 g m−2, 0.38 mm and 0.91 g cm−3, respectively. LFTs exhibited significant geographical variations and the LNC, LMA and LTH in the plants of Guazhou Common Garden were significantly higher than the field sites in the drylands of China. LDMC and LTD of plants in Guazhou Common Garden were, however, considerably lower than those in the drylands of China. LCC, LPC, LTH and LTD differed significantly among different plant lifeforms, while LNC, SLA, LDMC and LMA didn't show significant variations. We found that the environmental variables explained higher spatial variations (3.6–66.3 %) in LFTs than the phylogeny (1.8–54.2 %). The LCC significantly increased, while LDMC and LTD decreased with increased temperature and reduced precipitation. LPC, LDMC, LMA, and LTD significantly increased, while SLA and LTH decreased with increased aridity. However, leaf elements were not significantly correlated with soil nutrients. The mean annual precipitation was a key factor controlling variations in LFTs at the macroscale in the drylands of China. These findings will provide new insights to better understand the response of LFTs and plants adaptation along environmental gradient in drylands, and will serve as a reference for studying biogeographic patterns of leaf traits.