# Functional Trait Space Reveals Resource Use Strategies of Woody Plants in the Lijiang River Basin

## TL;DR

This study explores how woody plants in the Lijiang River Basin adapt to poor soil conditions by analyzing their leaf traits and comparing them with plants from the Yangtze River Basin.

## Contribution

The study reveals distinct resource use strategies of woody plants in a karst region and highlights life-form differentiation in functional trait space.

## Key findings

- Both trees and shrubs in Lijiang showed conservative strategies with high leaf dry matter content and low specific leaf area.
- Shrubs displayed greater trait space dispersion, indicating flexible responses to microhabitat variability.
- Lijiang species were more acquisitive compared to Yangtze species, which emphasized stress tolerance and resource conservation.

## Abstract

Understanding how plants allocate resources under environmental constraint is central to trait‐based ecology. In this study, we analyzed functional leaf traits of 205 woody species in the Lijiang River Basin, with a particular focus on the resource utilization strategies employed by arboreal species within this region. Furthermore, a comparison of the functional traits of plants in the Lijiang River Basin and the Yangtze River Basin has enabled the characterization of the latter's utilization of resources. The Lijiang River Basin, a karst region in southern China characterized by shallow soils and strong edaphic filtering, was measured for morphological and elemental traits across trees and shrubs and compared their functional trait spaces both within the basin and with species from the Yangtze River Basin. Both trees and shrubs in Lijiang exhibited conservative strategies, with high leaf dry matter content and low specific leaf area, reflecting adaptation to nutrient‐poor, drought‐prone soils. Despite this convergence, shrubs showed greater dispersion in trait space, suggesting more flexible responses to microhabitat variability. Shrubs occupied a larger proportion of unique trait space (18.98%), reflecting differentiation in growth form, rooting depth, and structural investment. Functionally distinct species—those furthest from the shared trait centroid—likely reflect ecological specialization within constrained environments. Comparisons with the Yangtze Basin revealed broader biogeographic divergence: Lijiang species were more acquisitive, while Yangtze species emphasized stress tolerance and resource conservation. These findings underscore how local environmental filtering and regional ecological context jointly shape plant functional strategies and highlight the role of life‐form differentiation and rare strategies in maintaining functional diversity under environmental stress.

We found that both trees and shrubs in Lijiang exhibited conservative strategies; shrubs showed greater dispersion in trait space. Lijiang species were more acquisitive, while Yangtze species emphasized stress tolerance and resource conservation.