Table 3.
Correlations between leaf longevity and environmental factors and other leaf functional traits for the five steppe species
| Species | Environmental factors |
Other leaf functional traits |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWC | SIN | STN | LNC | LPC | C/N | DMC | LMA | δ13C | NUE | SPAD | Pnet | gs | |
| 2007 | |||||||||||||
| S. krylovii | –0·85**** | 0·09 | –0·33 | –0·89**** | –0·57** | 0·86*** | 0·89**** | 0·65** | 0·60** | 0·75*** | –0·69*** | –0·90**** | –0·78*** |
| A.cristatum | –0·86**** | –0·02 | –0·17 | –0·88**** | –0·3 | 0·85**** | 0·84**** | 0·65** | 0·07 | 0·77*** | –0·82**** | –0·84**** | –0·64** |
| C. squarrosa | –0·57*** | 0·13 | 0·04 | –0·89**** | –0·28 | 0·82**** | 0·82**** | 0·35 | 0·44* | –0·88**** | – | – | |
| P. tanacetifolia | –0·69**** | –0·17 | –0·23 | –0·83**** | –0·03 | 0·74*** | 0·75*** | 0·75*** | 0·27 | 0·76*** | –0·84**** | – | – |
| M. ruthenica | –0·62*** | 0·15 | –0·39* | –0·88**** | 0·14 | 0·84**** | 0·72*** | 0·55* | 0·52* | 0·71*** | –0·91**** | – | – |
| 2008 | |||||||||||||
| S. krylovii | –0·76**** | –0·01 | 0·03 | –0·06 | –0·21 | 0·16 | 0·44 | –0·13 | 0·43 | 0·1 | –0·46* | –0·83**** | –0·75*** |
| A. cristatum | –0·57*** | –0·44** | –0·16 | –0·82**** | 0·07 | 0·85**** | 0·81** | 0·78*** | –0·1 | 0·69*** | –0·61** | –0·48* | –0·25 |
| C. squarrosa | –0·42* | –0·26 | 0·25 | –0·92**** | 0·47* | 0·88**** | 0·86**** | 0·83**** | –0·18 | 0·39 | –0·48* | – | – |
| P. tanacetifolia | –0·64*** | –0·42* | 0·01 | –0·79*** | –0·63** | 0·83**** | 0·82**** | 0·67** | 0·61* | 0·54* | –0·84**** | – | – |
| M. ruthenica | –0·93**** | 0·12 | 0·14 | –0·71*** | –0·48* | 0·66** | 0·74*** | 0·58** | 0·75** | 0·45* | –0·72*** | – | – |
SWC, soil water content; SIN, soil inorganic nitrogen; STN, soil total nitrogen; LNC, leaf nitrogen content; LPC, leaf phosphorus content; C/N ratio, ratio of leaf carbon to nitrogen contents; DMC, leaf dry matter content; LMA, leaf mass per area; δ13C, leaf carbon isotopic composition; NUE, nitrogen use efficiency; SPAD, estimated leaf chlorophyll concentration; Pnet, net photosynthetic rate based on area; gs, stomatal conductance.
Asterisks indicate statistically significant differences at *P < 0·10, **0·05, ***0·01 and ****0·001.