Anatomical and nutrient features of plant leaves in Yuanjiang savanna valley
元江干热河谷植物叶片解剖和养分含量特征

Due to rain shadow effect, the valleys in southwestern China mountainous areas have hot and dry climate, and savanna or semi-savanna vegetations occur on the slopes of these valleys. Yuanjiang dry-hot valley is such a valley, which has a distinct dry season of about six months from November to next April. This paper studied the anatomical and nutrient features of the leaves of twenty plant species, including those on upland soils and hilly slopes. The results showed that compared with the species on upland soil and the rain forest, the leaves of the plants from savanna showed more xeromorphic features, such as thicker leaf thickness, greater leaf mass per area (LMA), smaller ratios of spongy/palisade tissues (S:P) and higher stomatal density (SD), which mainly came from the more severe drought in Yuanjiang savanna valley. Seven plant species in the savanna valley showed a shortage of nutrients in their leaves, and the leaf nutrient content was in order of 1.3% > Ca > N > K > 1% > Mg > P > S. Savanna had lower leaf mineral element concentrations than rain forest, but higher than other dry forests, including Asian heath forest and Bana forest. The differences in leaf nutrient concentrations between Yuanjiang valley savanna and other dry forests were mainly ascribed to the difference of soil nutrient contents, while those between valley savanna and rainforest were largely determined by the different plant biology. It could be concluded that the leaves of plant species in Yuanjiang savanna valley not only had obvious xeromorphic features, but also were deficit in nutrients.