David Zelený

& Tsung-Yi Lin

Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyNational Taiwan UniversityTaipei, Taiwan

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

near Smangus, Taiwan

Main questions

• How do leaf traits of fern species growing in the forest change along elevation gradient in Taiwan?

• Does the pattern differ for terrestrial and epiphytic fern species?

• Are ferns a good model plant group to study community-level trait response to the environment?

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Study area (Lalashan transect)

David Zelený: Effect of cloud and wind on forest vegetation in Taiwan

Sampling design (in each elevation zone)

David Zelený: Effect of cloud and wind on forest vegetation in Taiwan

WI

ND

Plots 20×20 m• fixed, 3 per elevation,

permanently marked• recorded complete species

composition including epiphytic ferns visible from the ground

L1

L3

L4

L5

L6

L2 2100m a.s.l

1850m a.s.l

1350m a.s.l

850m a.s.l

1100m a.s.l

1600m a.s.l

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Morphological trait measurements in the lab

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Morphological trait measurements in the lab

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Summary of data

Number of elevation zones: 6 (850 – 2100 m a.s.l.)

Number of plots (20x20 m): 18 (3 per elevation zones)

Number of fern species sampled: 95 (56 terrestrial, 39 epiphytes) – traits measured for most of them

Leaf traits measured and used in analysis:– specific leaf area (SLA)

– leaf thickness (Lth)

– leaf dry matter content (LDMC)

– succulence (Succ)

– leaf nitrogen (N)

– leaf carbon (C)

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Pattern of species richness along elevation

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Changes in species composition along elevation

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

NMDS ordination of species data (Bray-Curtis distance)

Trait-trait correlations

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Terrestrial fern species(56 species)

Epiphytic fern species(39 species)

Community-level trait response to elevation

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Community-level trait response to elevation

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Conclusions – answers to main questions

• How do leaf traits of fern species growing in the forest change along elevation gradient in Taiwan?

• Does the pattern differ for terrestrial and epiphytic fern species?

• Are ferns a good model plant group to study community-level trait response to the environment?

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Zelený & Lin: Fern traits along elevation in Taiwan

Thank you for your attention!

Acknowledgements:

Big thanks to members of Vegetation Ecology Lab

(PI David Zelený) and Ecological Restoration Lab

(PI Ching-Feng Woody Li)for help with field work!

This study has been supported by Ministry of Science and

Technology, Taiwan(MOST, 106-2621-B-002-003-MY3)