[Trait-based responses and adaptation of Artemisia sacrorum to environmental changes]

The paper focused on Artemisia sacrorum in the stable natural plant community in three vegetation zones (forest, forest steppe and steppe) in the Yanhe River catchment. The following plant functional traits were measured at each sample site, i.e., specific leaf area (SLA), leaf tissue density (LTD), leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC), leaf phosphorus concentration (LPC), leaf nitrogen phosphorus ratio (LNP), specific root length (SRL), root tissue density (RTD), root nitrogen concentration (RNC), root phosphorus concentration (RPC) and root nitrogen phosphorus ratio (RNP). These 10 plant functional traits were chosen because they were easily measurable and adequately reflected plant survival strategies. We analyzed intraspecific differences in A. sacrorum functional traits in the different habitat zones, and the influence of climate and terrain factors on A. sacrorum functional traits. We also studied the relationships among A. sacrorum plant functional traits. The results showed that some A. sacrorum functional traits were significantly different among sample sites, such as LPC, LNP, SRL, RTD and RNP, while the other 5 functional traits had no significant differences. The functional traits were not significantly different between sites with different slopes and aspects. SLA was very significantly negatively correlated with LTD, SRL was significantly negatively correlated with RTD and RNP, RTD was significantly positively correlated with RNC and RNP, and there were no significant relationships among LTD, LNC and LNP and the other functional traits. This showed that A. sacrorum adapted to the environment by coordinating adjustment among leaf and root functional traits. Different climate factors had different effects on plant traits, with the effects of mean annual precipitation > mean annual temperature > annual average evaporation capacity.