Morphological variation of Quercus liaotungensis leaves in Lingkong Mountain, Shanxi Province

Abstract

In order to study variation of morphological traits and the influencing factors of natural populations of Quercus liaotungensis Koidz. in Lingkong Mountain Nature Reserve of Shanxi region, five populations were included, and 24 morphological traits of leaf and apical bud were investigated. The analysis of variance showed that variation of all the morphological traits within population were significant, whereas significant difference existed in five property indices among populations (α = 0.05), which resulted from genetic and environmental factors. The results revealed that direction and degree of slope, average diameter at breast height in populations, and population density were the main influencing factors. Intrapopulation variation mainly contributed to morphological variation, and the phenotypic differentiation coefficient was 13.31%, which indicated low level of differentiation. But several characteristics exhibited high differentiation level, such as width of the tooth of leaf base (25.99%) and the middle apical bud (25.23%). The morphological indices, including the tooth of leaf base, leaf tip, petiole, and leaf area were precarious and changed a lot within population, which arose from the variation of individual s development. However, only two morphological indices, the middle apical bud and the tooth of leaf base, are unstable, which indicates the extensive influence of environmental factors.