Plant key functional traits in species adaptation and screening for vegetation restoration on coral islands

The South China Sea islands, numerous and vast in area, hold significant strategic implications and are also vulnerable to disturbance and degradation. The harsh coral island environment such as seasonal drought, intense light, strong wind, and high temperature make plant survival and growth difficult, emphasizing the need for suitable restoration species selection. Under prolonged multiple stresses, the coral island species have developed a series of eco-physiological responses, gradually forming unique survival strategies. Revealing species' adaptation mechanisms in tropical coral island extreme habitats through plant functional traits, and identifying suitable species for restoration, is vital for marine resource protection and island ecological functions.

The restoration ecology research team from the South China Botanical Garden conducted a systematic study on 56 typical tropical coastal plant species. Through field measurements and comparative analysis, they investigated the differences in structural and physiological traits of plants between two habitats: tropical mainland nursery and tropical coral islands (Fig. 1). They found that contrary to nursery plants employing the acquisitive strategy under sufficient resources, island plants featured stronger leaf structure and higher antioxidant capacity, exhibiting a tolerance strategy to better cope with stresses (Fig. 2). Meanwhile, plant functional traits rather than restoration needs or life forms are more fundamental in studying species adaptation. They also found that leaf thickness, plant height, palisade and spongy tissue thickness, were four key traits in future tropical coral island restoration species screening, and listed nine suitable species from this species pool. Overall, this study provided new insights into plant adaptation and restoration practice of tropical coral islands.

The research entitled “Plant key functional traits in species adaptation and screening for vegetation restoration on coral islands” was recently published online in Journal of Environmental Management. Master student XIE Yuchen from South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the first author. Prof. LIU Hui is the corresponding author. The work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China and other funding. Paper Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.124545

Corresponding author information: LIU Hui, Research Center for Ecology and Environmental Sciences, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, Research field: Plant functional traits, adaptation and evolution, E-mail: hui.liu@scbg.ac.cn ; Tel :020-37081975.

Fig. 1. Plant key functional traits in species adaptation and screening for vegetation restoration on coral islands.(Imaged by LIU et al)

Fig. 2. Principal component analysis for 25 functional traits of all 56 species in this study.(Imaged by LIU et al)