Functional assembly of tropical montane tree islands in the Atlantic Forest is shaped by stress tolerance,bamboo presence,and facilitation

AimsAmidst the Campos de Altitude (Highland Grasslands) in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, woody communities grow either clustered in tree islands or interspersed within the herbaceous matrix. The functional ecology, diversity, and biotic processes shaping these plant communities are largely unstudied. We characterized the functional assembly and diversity of these tropical montane woody communities and investigated how they fit within Grime''s CSR (C—competitor, S—stress‐tolerant, R—ruderal) scheme, what functional trade‐offs they exhibit, and how traits and functional diversity vary in response to bamboo presence/absence.MethodsTo characterize the functional composition of the community, we sampled five leaf traits and wood density along transects covering the woody communities both inside tree islands and outside (i.e., isolated woody plants in the grasslands community). Then, we used Mann–Whitney test, t test, and variation partitioning to determine the effects of inside versus outside tree island and bamboo presence on community‐weighted means, woody species diversity, and functional diversity.ResultsWe found a general SC/S strategy with drought‐related functional trade‐offs. Woody plants in tree islands had more acquisitive traits than those within the grasslands. Trait variation was mostly taxonomically than spatially driven, and species composition varied between inside and outside tree islands. Leaf thickness, wood density, and foliar water uptake were unrelated to CSR strategies, suggesting independent trait dimensions and multiple drought‐coping strategies within the predominant S strategy. Islands with bamboo presence showed lower Simpson diversity, lower functional dispersion, lower foliar water uptake, and greater leaf thickness than in tree islands without bamboo.ConclusionsThe observed functional assembly hints toward large‐scale environmental abiotic filtering shaping a stress‐tolerant community strategy, and small‐scale biotic interactions driving small‐scale trait variation. We recommend experimental studies with fire, facilitation treatments, ecophysiological and recruitment traits to elucidate on future tree island expansion and community response to climate change.     

Species Adaptive Strategies and Leaf Economic Relationships across Serpentine and Non-Serpentine Habitats on Lesbos,Eastern Mediterranean

Shifts in species'' traits across contrasting environments have the potential to influence ecosystem functioning. Plant communities on unusually harsh soils may have unique responses to environmental change, through the mediating role of functional plant traits. We conducted a field study comparing eight functional leaf traits of seventeen common species located on both serpentine and non-serpentine environments on Lesbos Island, in the eastern Mediterranean. We focused on species'' adaptive strategies across the two contrasting environments and investigated the effect of trait variation on the robustness of core ‘leaf economic’ relationships across local environmental variability. Our results showed that the same species followed a conservative strategy on serpentine substrates and an exploitative strategy on non-serpentine ones, consistent with the leaf economic spectrum predictions. Although considerable species-specific trait variability emerged, the single-trait responses across contrasting environments were generally consistent. However, multivariate-trait responses were diverse. Finally, we found that the strength of relationships between core ‘leaf economic’ traits altered across local environmental variability. Our results highlight the divergent trait evolution on serpentine and non-serpentine communities and reinforce other findings presenting species-specific responses to environmental variation.     

黄土丘陵区植物叶片与细根功能性状关系及其变化

通过植物叶片功能性状(比叶面积、叶组织密度、叶氮含量)和细根功能性状(比根长、根组织密度、根氮含量)间的相互关系,分析植物对环境的适应途径;然后根据性状间的差异进行了层次聚类,将物种划分为3大功能型,并分析了不同功能型对环境的适应策略.结果表明:黄土丘陵区延河流域149种植物的叶氮含量与比叶面积和根氮含量正相关、与叶组织密度负相关,比根长与根组织密度负相关,除了根氮含量,其余根性状与叶性状不相关.此外,功能性状间关系变化和适应策略在不同功能型之间也存在差异.功能型1的植物具有最强的耐旱力和防御力;功能型3的植物具有最强的养分维持能力用以对抗营养贫瘠的环境;功能型2的植物居中,生长速率最高,具有较强的竞争力、分布最广;根据C-S-R理论,功能型1和3属于“胁迫忍耐型”策略(S策略),功能型2则属于“竞争型”(C)和“干扰型”(R)策略的综合.研究结果为黄土丘陵区植被恢复规划及物种配置等提供依据.     

高寒草地植物生存策略地理分布特征及其影响因素

植物性状能够反映植物的生存策略,是植物生态学的研究热点之一。植物CSR策略模型将植物物种分为3类:在资源丰富环境中能够最大程度提高生物量的物种(竞争型物种:C策略);在干扰频率较高的环境中能够快速摄取资源并繁殖的物种(投机取巧型物种:R策略);在资源贫瘠环境中能够保持个体生存的物种(耐受型物种:S策略)。植物叶片性状对环境梯度具有适应性的改变,性状的改变对植物生存策略产生影响,但是青藏高原植物叶片性状是如何影响植物CSR生存策略的,其机制尚不清楚。该研究探究了高寒草地植物CSR生存策略的分布特征,以及环境因子对CSR生存策略的影响机制。2020年7–8月,对青藏高原高寒草地53个样点进行了调查,测定植物叶片叶面积、叶片鲜质量和叶片干质量等性状,并计算C、S、R值。然后,分析关键地理环境要素对植物CSR策略影响的主要因子和作用机理。结果表明:(1)在青藏高原高寒草地,植物的生存策略主要以S策略(41.6%–96.7%)为主。(2)随着经度的增加,青藏高原高寒草地C策略植物所占比例自西向东逐渐上升;在海拔梯度上,高寒草地C策略植物所占比例随着海拔的升高而降低。(3)随机森林分析结果显示降水...     

漓江河岸带植物功能性状变异与关联

研究植物功能性状随环境梯度的变异和关联格局, 对于认识不同环境梯度下群落构建和植物适应型具有重要意义。该研究以漓江河岸带不同河段植物群落为研究对象, 调查了研究区内36个样方的物种组成, 测量了样方内42种木本植物的叶面积(LA)、比叶面积(SLA)和木材密度(WD)的功能性状值, 并运用性状梯度分析法对3个功能性状进行群落内(α组分)和群落间(β组分)组分分解及相关性分析。结果表明: (1)群落平均LA表现为中游最小且和下游差异显著, 群落平均WD则表现为中上游显著高于下游, 群落平均SLA在两两河段间均差异显著。(2)不同河段的3个植物功能性状β组分差异显著且实际观测值均小于随机模拟的零模型分布, 但α组分在河岸带不同河段均差异不显著且3个功 能性状的α组分分布范围均小于β组分, 说明在河岸带不同河段的群落构建过程中环境筛选的作用要大于群落内种间的相互作用。(3)性状SLA与LA在群落间和群落内呈现出实际观测和随机模拟的相关性均较低, 暗示了LA和SLA各自代表了植物在不同生态策略上的维度; 但SLA和WD实际观测值和随机模拟值呈现出较强的负相关关系, 暗示这2个性状对于环境筛选表现出较高的整体趋同适应性, 体现了植物功能性状对群落间环境变异的依赖性大于群落内种间相互作用的依赖性。     

A Multidimensional Functional Trait Approach Reveals the Imprint of Environmental Stress in Mediterranean Woody Communities

Water availability is one of the most important factors determining species distribution, plant community structure and ecosystem functioning. We explore how the functional structure of Mediterranean woody plant communities varies along a regional gradient of aridity in the Andalusian region (south Spain). We question whether communities located in more arid sites show more similarity in their functional structure when compared with communities located in wetter sites or whether, instead, there is divergence in their functional spaces. We selected five aridity zones (three sampling sites per zone) and measured 13 traits of different functional dimensions (including leaf, stem and root traits) in 74 woody plant species. We quantified functional space differences using the n-dimensional niche space approach (hypervolume). We found a larger functional space for the wetter communities compared with the more arid communities, which showed greater overlap of the trait space occupation. Our results indicate that aridity acts as a key abiotic filter affecting various metrics of the community trait structure, in accordance with the plant economics spectrum. We have also documented consistent variation in the functional space, supporting lower functional diversity under more harsh climatic conditions. The trend of functional space variation along the aridity gradient was different when considering traits from only one plant organ. Thus, the filtering process driving the functional structure of the communities studied here largely depends on the trait axis considered; for example, the root dimension showed considerable variation in wet environments, whereas the leaf dimension exhibited a larger functional space in the drier habitats.     

Plant Trait Variation along an Altitudinal Gradient in Mediterranean High Mountain Grasslands: Controlling the Species Turnover Effect

Assessing changes in plant functional traits along gradients is useful for understanding the assembly of communities and their response to global and local environmental drivers. However, these changes may reflect the effects of species composition (i.e. composition turnover), species abundance (i.e. species interaction), and intra-specific trait variability (i.e. species plasticity). In order to determine the relevance of the latter, trait variation can be assessed under minimal effects of composition turnover. Nine sampling sites were established along an altitudinal gradient in a Mediterranean high mountain grassland community with low composition turnover (Madrid, Spain; 1940 m–2419 m). Nine functional traits were also measured for ten individuals of around ten plant species at each site, for a total of eleven species across all sites. The relative importance of different sources of variability (within/between site and intra-/inter-specific functional diversity) and trait variation at species and community level along the considered gradients were explored. We found a weak individual species response to altitude and other environmental variables although in some cases, individuals were smaller and leaves were thicker at higher elevations. This lack of species response was most likely due to greater within- than between-site species variation. At the community level, inter-specific functional diversity was generally greater than the intra-specific component except for traits linked to leaf element content (leaf carbon content, leaf nitrogen content, δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N). Inter-specific functional diversity decreased with lower altitude for four leaf traits (specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N), suggesting trait convergence between species at lower elevations, where water shortage may have a stronger environmental filtering effect than colder temperatures at higher altitudes. Our results suggest that, within a vegetation type encompassing various environmental gradients, both, changes in species abundance and intra-specific trait variability adjust for the community functional response to environmental changes.     

Disentangling the relative importance of species occurrence,abundance and intraspecific variability in community assembly: a trait‐based approach at the whole‐plant level in Mediterranean forests

Understanding which factors and rules govern the process of assembly in communities constitutes one of the main challenges of plant community ecology. The presence of certain functional strategies along broad environmental gradients can help to understand the patterns observed in community assembly and the filtering mechanisms that take place. We used a trait‐based approach, quantifying variations in aboveground (leaf and stem) and belowground (root) functional traits along environmental gradients in Mediterranean forest communities (south Spain). We proposed a new practical method to quantify the relative importance of species turnover (distinguishing between species occurrence and abundance) versus intraspecific variation, which allowed us to better understand the assemblage rules of these plant communities along environmental gradients. Our results showed that the functional structure of the studied plant communities was highly determined by soil environment. Results from our modelling approach based on maximum likelihood estimators showed a predominant influence of soil water storage on most of the community functional traits. We found that changes in community functional structure along environmental gradients were mainly promoted by species turnover rather than by intraspecific variability. Specifically, our new method of variance decomposition demonstrated that between‐site trait variation was the result of changes in species occurrence rather than in the abundance of certain dominant species. In conclusion, this study showed that water availability promoted the predominance of specific trait values (both in above and belowground fractions) associated to a resource acquisition or conservation strategy. In addition, we provided evidence that changes on community functional structure along the environmental gradient were mainly promoted by a process of species replacement, which represent a crucial step towards a more general understanding of the relative importance of intraspecific versus interspecific trait variation in these woody Mediterranean communities.     

Contrasting effects of plant inter‐ and intraspecific variation on community trait responses to restoration of a sandy grassland ecosystem

Changes in plant community traits along an environmental gradient are caused by interspecific and intraspecific trait variation. However, little is known about the role of interspecific and intraspecific trait variation in plant community responses to the restoration of a sandy grassland ecosystem. We measured five functional traits of 34 species along a restoration gradient of sandy grassland (mobile dune, semi‐fixed dune, fixed dune, and grassland) in Horqin Sand Land, northern China. We examined how community‐level traits varied with habitat changes and soil gradients using both abundance‐weighted and non‐weighted averages of trait values. We quantified the relative contribution of inter‐ and intraspecific trait variation in specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf carbon content (LCC), leaf nitrogen content (LNC), and plant height to the community response to habitat changes in the restoration of sandy grassland. We found that five weighted community‐average traits varied significantly with habitat changes. Along the soil gradient in the restoration of sandy grassland, plant height, SLA, LDMC, and LCC increased, while LNC decreased. For all traits, there was a greater contribution of interspecific variation to community response in regard to habitat changes relative to that of intraspecific variation. The relative contribution of the interspecific variation effect of an abundance‐weighted trait was greater than that of a non‐weighted trait with regard to all traits except LDMC. A community‐level trait response to habitat changes was due largely to species turnover. Though the intraspecific shift plays a small role in community trait response to habitat changes, it has an effect on plant coexistence and the maintenance of herbaceous plants in sandy grassland habitats. The context dependency of positive and negative covariation between inter‐ and intraspecific variation further suggests that both effects of inter‐ and intraspecific variation on a community trait should be considered when understanding a plant community response to environmental changes in sandy grassland ecosystems.     

木本植物茎叶功能性状及其关系随环境变化的研究进展

植物功能性状反映了植物对生长环境的响应和适应,是植物与环境相互作用的结果。植物功能性状之间的关系决定了植物的生活史对策,进而影响多物种的共存和生物多样性的维持。本文综述了叶大小、比叶面积、叶寿命和木质密度、叶大小-小枝大小、叶内生物量分配和叶大小-数量等随环境变化的研究进展,并简述其变化机理。植物功能性状及其关系的研究已经取得了很多成果,建立起了一套有效的研究方法和理论体系;但在今后的研究中,还需要对植物的地上部分和地下部分植物性状之间的协变关系、当年生末端小枝上功能性状间的关系的普遍性,以及叶大小-数量的等速关系在整个被子植物中的保守程度等几个方面进行深入研究。我国常绿阔叶林物种的植物功能性状及其关系研究较少,有待加强和系统化。     

Timing of snowmelt affects species composition via plant strategy filtering

Plant strategy schemes aim to classify plants according to measurable traits and group species according to their shared evolutionary responses to selective pressures. In this way, it becomes possible to make meaningful comparisons among ecosystems and communities and to predict how plant communities might respond to changes in their environment. Here, we classified common alpine plants which occur in snowpatches (Early and Late snowmelt sites) and in adjacent vegetation (Snow-free sites which melt early in the growing season) using Grime’s CSR plant strategy scheme. Alpine plant communities are largely driven by environmental filters associated with a relatively constant gradient of snowmelt timing. Since snow persistence influences the abiotic environment and plant assemblages alike, we hypothesised that these patterns would be reflected in community CSR scores. Weighted community CSR scores were clustered towards the stress-tolerator (S) corner of the triangular CSR space, and Snow-free communities were significantly more stress-tolerant than Early and Late snowmelt communities. This suggests that snowpatch communities are functionally distinct from surrounding vegetation when considering the major axes of plant variation identified by CSR theory. These results lend further support to the importance of the timing of snowmelt as a key filter, influencing how species and plant strategy types distribute themselves across the alpine landscape.     

Plant functional traits under cattle grazing and fallow age scenarios in a tropical dry forest of Northwestern Mexico

Evaluating plant functional traits helps to understand how plants respond to changing environmental conditions and resource availability associated with disturbance events. Livestock production is one of the primary drivers of tropical forest loss and degradation. Livestock alter environmental conditions within the forest by grazing, trampling and nutrient inputs, which in turn can influence species composition and functional traits of species. Understanding how livestock influence functional traits along a successional gradient is poorly understood. Here, we studied the effect of cattle grazing and fallow age on plant functional traits and soil nutrients in secondary and old-growth tropical dry forests. We analyzed plant functional traits of the most important species in successional and old-growth forest communities in both cattle present and cattle excluded plots. Our results showed the effects of cattle grazing and fallow age on plant functional traits, with fallow age explaining more variation than cattle grazing. In early succession, functional traits were associated with water conservation (thicker leaves, lower specific leaf area), and in later successional they were linked with sunlight conservation (larger height, higher specific leaf area). The presence of large fruits and seeds in advanced successional sites suggests high resource availability, which may help plants to successfully reproduce. Moreover, under cattle grazing some functional traits are associated with herbivory defense (high foliar dry weight and thick leaves). Even though N and C increased as succession advanced, the sites with cattle grazing had higher NH4 and NO3 concentrations as a result of fecal deposition. Plant functional traits responded to fallow age than to cattle grazing. Our study showed that cattle exclusion, as a management and biodiversity conservation strategy, contributes positively to soil nutrition. Thus, fallow age and cattle exclusion facilitate soil recovery and allows establishing species with suitable functional attributes for overcoming environmental filters in abandoned cattle fields.     

藏东木本植物群落功能性状分布与环境的关系

研究植物群落功能性状间的相关关系及其对环境变化的响应,能够有效揭示植物功能性状的权衡模式及其对环境的适应策略。藏东昌都地区位于横断山脉西北部,复杂气候地貌孕育了丰富的植物资源,是青藏高原森林灌丛生态系统主要组分和国际生物多样性保护的热点地区。以藏东森林灌丛群落优势木本植物为研究对象,在大量野外调查基础上,采用相关分析、主成分分析、线性回归和方差分析等方法,研究了该区域植物功能性状间的相关关系、功能性状对环境变量的响应规律以及功能性状的变异来源。结果表明：(1)藏东木本植物表现出适应高寒环境的性状权衡模式,即：比叶面积、叶体积较小而叶干物质含量较大,叶磷含量和叶钾含量协同变化;(2)海拔和气候变量共同驱动着藏东木本植物功能性状的变化,并且藏东木本植物倾向于采取“高投入—慢回报”提高御寒能力的保守型适应策略;(3)海拔是影响藏东植物功能性状变异最显著的环境变量,种间变异在藏东植物群落功能性状随环境变化中起主要作用。研究结果揭示了藏东木本植物功能性状的权衡模式及其对高寒环境的适应策略,有助于加深对藏东自然植物资源分布规律和生态功能的认识,为区域生态系统功能和生物多样性保护提供科学依据。     

Mycorrhizal features and leaf traits covary at the community level during primary succession

The mycorrhizal association between fungi and plants is thought to be an important component of the functional diversity of plant communities, although evidence is weak. We explored community-level changes to mycorrhizal features and leaf traits along a primary successional gradient on a sedimentation coast. We found that community weighted mean values of mycorrhizal features and leaf traits varied systematically along the successional series, representing a transition from communities dominated by more stress-tolerant plant species (less mycorrhizal colonization and lower specific leaf area) to less stress-tolerant plant species (higher mycorrhizal colonization and specific leaf area). Despite the co-variation in leaf traits and mycorrhizal features at the community level, only mycorrhizal features showed an increasing functional diversity with successional age. These results suggest that mycorrhizal fungi should not be forgotten in trait-based plant community ecology.     

植物功能性状与环境和生态系统功能

植物性状反映了植物对生长环境的响应和适应,将环境、植物个体和生态系统结构、过程与功能联系起来(所谓的“植物功能性状”)。该文介绍了植物功能性状的分类体系,综述了国内外植物功能性状与气候(包括气温、降水、光照)、地理空间变异(包括地形地貌、生态梯度、海拔)、营养、干扰(包括火灾、放牧、生物入侵、土地利用)等环境因素,以及与生态系统功能之间关系的研究进展,探讨了全球变化(气候变化和CO₂浓度升高)对个体和群落植物功能性状的影响。植物功能性状的研究已经取得很多成果,并应用于全球变化、古植被恢复和古气候定量重建、环境监测与评价、生态保护和恢复等研究中,但大尺度、多生境因子下的植物功能性状研究仍有待于加强,同时需要改进性状的测量手段;我国的植物功能性状研究还需要更加明朗化和系统化。     

甘南高寒草甸坡向梯度对植物群落功能多样性的影响

植物群落功能多样性对于维持生态系统功能具有十分重要的意义。该研究以青藏高原高寒草甸植物群落为研究对象,运用R软件程序包(FD、Vegan)与单因素方差分析法,分析高寒草甸不同坡向植物群落功能多样性的变化及其与环境因子的关系,以揭示微生境梯度上植物对环境的适应策略以及群落种间功能特征及生态系统内部结构和功能的变化机制。结果显示：(1)青藏高原高寒草甸的北坡和西北坡的物种丰富度、植物株高、比叶面积、叶片有机碳、叶片氮以及叶片磷显著高于其他坡向,且坡向间差异显著(P<0.05)。(2)在北坡到南坡的变化中,功能丰富度差异比较明显(P<0.05),株高、比叶面积、叶片有机碳、叶片氮及叶片磷等功能丰富度均呈递减趋势。(3)北坡的株高功能均匀度、西北坡比叶面积、叶片有机碳、叶片氮及叶片磷等功能均匀度均显著高于南坡,且多元性状功能均匀度在坡向间差异显著(P<0.05)。(4)北坡的比叶面积、叶片氮功能离散度及西北坡的株高、叶片有机碳、叶片磷等功能离散度均高于南坡,且坡向间差异显著(P<0.05)。(5)植物群落功能多样性与土壤含水量、土壤有机碳、土壤全氮、土壤全磷呈显著正相关关系(P<0.05),与坡度、土壤pH、土温、照度呈显著负相关关系(P<0.05)。     

博斯腾湖湖滨湿地植物多样性对季节变化的响应

研究生物多样性对季节的响应对于维持生态系统稳定、保护生物多样性、解析群落构建机制具有重要意义。本文以博斯腾湖湖滨湿地为研究对象,探究不同季节植物群落的物种多样性与功能多样性的变化规律。结果显示：(1)物种多样性指数随季节变化没有显著改变;功能多样性指数中,功能丰富度由春季到夏季逐渐减小,功能离散度逐渐增大;不同季节的功能均匀度差异性不显著;(2)植物功能性状在不同季节间差异显著;春季叶绿素含量显著低于夏季;夏季比叶面积和叶干物质含量显著高于秋季;叶片含水量和厚度由春季到秋季呈递增趋势;(3)影响Pielou指数和功能丰富度的主要环境因子分别为土壤铵态氮和速效磷;影响Shannon-Wiener指数、Simpson指数和功能均匀度的主要环境因子为土壤有机质;影响功能离散度的主要环境因子为土壤含水量;(4)影响最大株高的主要环境因子为土壤pH值;影响叶干物质含量的主要环境因子为土壤速效钾;影响叶片厚度和比叶面积的主要环境因子为土壤总磷;而影响叶片含水量的主要环境因子为土壤硝态氮;叶绿素含量与土壤因子无显著相关关系。     

Biotic and Abiotic Properties Mediating Plant Diversity Effects on Soil Microbial Communities in an Experimental Grassland

Plant diversity drives changes in the soil microbial community which may result in alterations in ecosystem functions. However, the governing factors between the composition of soil microbial communities and plant diversity are not well understood. We investigated the impact of plant diversity (plant species richness and functional group richness) and plant functional group identity on soil microbial biomass and soil microbial community structure in experimental grassland ecosystems. Total microbial biomass and community structure were determined by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis. The diversity gradient covered 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 60 plant species and 1, 2, 3 and 4 plant functional groups (grasses, legumes, small herbs and tall herbs). In May 2007, soil samples were taken from experimental plots and from nearby fields and meadows. Beside soil texture, plant species richness was the main driver of soil microbial biomass. Structural equation modeling revealed that the positive plant diversity effect was mainly mediated by higher leaf area index resulting in higher soil moisture in the top soil layer. The fungal-to-bacterial biomass ratio was positively affected by plant functional group richness and negatively by the presence of legumes. Bacteria were more closely related to abiotic differences caused by plant diversity, while fungi were more affected by plant-derived organic matter inputs. We found diverse plant communities promoted faster transition of soil microbial communities typical for arable land towards grassland communities. Although some mechanisms underlying the plant diversity effect on soil microorganisms could be identified, future studies have to determine plant traits shaping soil microbial community structure. We suspect differences in root traits among different plant communities, such as root turnover rates and chemical composition of root exudates, to structure soil microbial communities.     

Grazing alters species relative abundance by affecting plant functional traits in a Tibetan subalpine meadow

Domestic livestock grazing has caused dramatic changes in plant community composition across the globe. However, the response of plant species abundance in communities subject to grazing has not often been investigated through a functional lens, especially for belowground traits. Grazing directly impacts aboveground plant tissues, but the relationships between above‐ and belowground traits, and their influence on species abundance are also not well known. We collected plant trait and species relative abundance data in the grazed and nongrazed meadow plant communities in a species‐rich subalpine ecosystem of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. We measured three aboveground traits (leaf photosynthesis rate, specific leaf area, and maximum height) and five belowground traits (root average diameter, root biomass, specific root length, root tissue density, and specific root area). We tested for shifts in the relationship between species relative abundance and among all measured traits under grazing compared with the nongrazed meadow. We also compared the power of above‐ and belowground traits to predict species relative abundance. We observed a significant shift from a resource conservation strategy to a resource acquisition strategy. Moreover, this resource conservation versus resource acquisition trade‐off can also determine species relative abundance in the grazed and nongrazed plant communities. Specifically, abundant species in the nongrazed meadow had aboveground and belowground traits that are associated with high resource conservation, whereas aboveground and belowground traits that are correlated with high resource acquisition determined species relative abundance in the grazed meadow. However, belowground traits were found to explain more variances in species relative abundance than aboveground traits in the nongrazed meadow, while aboveground and belowground traits had comparable predictive power in the grazed meadow. We show that species relative abundance in both the grazed and the nongrazed meadows can be predicted by both aboveground traits and belowground traits associated with a resource acquisition versus conservation trade‐off. More importantly, we show that belowground traits have higher predictive power of species relative abundance than aboveground traits in the nongrazed meadow, whereas in the grazed meadows, above‐ and belowground traits had comparable high predictive power.