Functional traits rather than abiotic factors determine the response of
flowering phenology to biodiversity loss and nitrogen addition
Abstract
1. Numerous evidence agree that global changes have altered plant
phenology, abiotic factors and functional traits are center drivers
linking phenology. However, few studies have considered the joint
effects of these factors on flowering phenology under nitrogen (N)
inputs and biodiversity loss. 2. A common garden experiment with two N
addition and six plant diversity levels was established in Beijing. We
assessed the effects of N addition and plant diversity loss on three
flowering phenology events of Medicago sativa via functional traits and
abiotic factors. 3. The first flowering day (FFD) delayed, the last
flowering day (LFD) advanced, and flowering duration (FD) shortened
after N addition. While FFD advanced, LFD delayed, and FD extended an
average of 0.31, 0.64, and 0.95 days per species lost, respectively.
Importantly, three analysis methods had been used to prove that the
contributions of functional traits for the variance in flowering
phenology changes was significantly larger than abiotic factors under
biodiversity loss and N addition. 4. Our findings illustrate the
non-negligible effects of functional traits on flowering phenology, and
highlight the importance of including functional traits in phenology
models to improve predictions of the response of plant phenology to N
inputs and biodiversity loss.