ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
This article is part of the Research TopicBiochemical and Physiological Insights into Plant Adaptation and Resilience Under Abiotic StressesView all 20 articles
Habitat-Driven Ecological Strategies Shape Chinese Pine Functional Traits and Rhizosphere Metabolites in Qinling Mountains, China
Provisionally accepted
- 1Northwest A&F University, Xianyang, China
- 2Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, China
- 3Shangluo Qinling Ecological Protection Office, Shangluo, China
- 4Xi'an Botanical Garden of Shaanxi Province, Xi'an, China
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Aims Plant functional traits (PFTs) and rhizosphere soil metabolites (RSMs) play crucial roles in the connection between plants and soil environments, influencing plant ecological adaptation processes. However, the strategies and driving factors underlying their variation in different habitats are poorly understood. Methods In this study, we investigated P.tabuliformis population traits and RSMs in two habitats, assessed trait and metabolite variations, and analyzed how traits and metabolites were associated with plant strategies. Results The first principal component analysis (PCA) axis of the PFTs reflected trade-offs in traits linked to habitat: ridge habitat Chinese pine populations had high leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and fine root tissue density (FRTD) trait values that increased resource conservation, and slope habitat populations had high specific leaf area (SLA) and fine root specific root length (FRSRL) values that improved the efficiency of resource acquisition. The results of the metabolic pathway analysis of differential metabolites showed that in ridge habitats, adversity resistance-related metabolic pathways were significantly upregulated. Random forest model (RFM) analysis showed that the first PCA axis of PFTs and differential metabolites was significantly related to soil nitrogen and phosphorus content, indicating that soil nutrients are the primary factors driving the variation in P.tabuliformis population ecological adaptation strategies in different habitats. Conclusions Thus, the trade-offs between PFTs and the regulation of rhizosphere soil metabolism shape the population distribution of P.tabuliformis in different habitats. Along the terrain gradient, soil nutrients are the primary factors driving trait and metabolite regulation-based strategies.
Keywords: Plant functional traits, rhizosphere soil metabolites, ecological adaptation strategies, Different habitats, P.tabuliformis
Received: 22 Aug 2025; Accepted: 31 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Pang, Kang, Song, Hu, Wang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yuchao Wang, wangyuchao2000@126.com
Dexiang Wang, wangdx66@sohu.com
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