Phenotypic plasticity of morphological traits determine the performance of woody species in tropical dry forest

Abstract

In the extremely variable and severe environment of tropical dry forest, the phenotypic plasticity of morphological traits of plant species plays an important role for their development, functioning and evolution. We selected eight morphological traits (viz, girth, GT; height, HT; bark thickness, BT; wood specific gravity, WSG; leaf area, LA; crown cover, CC; crown depth, CD; leaf area index, LAI), which are considered important for the survival and growth of plant species in tropical dry forest, and measured their range in woody species, including trees and shrubs, across the five study sites. We also, measured phenotypic plasticity of morphological trait of each woody species across the study sites. In our study, the woody species exhibited wide range of morphological traits. The phenotypic plasticity of the morphological traits showed remarkable variation across species as well as within a particular species growing at different at different levels of soil moisture content. The relationships of mean value of morphological traits across all woody species at five study sites with the respective mean value of soil properties were significant. Among the selected traits, LA and HT were most important for the variation in SR at our study sites. We suggest extensive investigation of the phenotypic plasticity of the morphological traits of woody species in tropical dry forest for proper management and sustainable development of the forest ecosystem.