Convergence is commonly caused by environmental filtering, severe climatic conditions and local disturbance. The basic aim of the present study was to understand the pattern of leaf traits across diverse desert plant species in a common garden, in addition to determining the effect of plant life forms (PLF), such as herb, shrub and subshrub, phylogeny and soil properties on leaf traits. Six leaf traits, namely carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), δ¹³C and leaf water potential (LWP) of 37 dominant desert plant species were investigated and analyzed. The C, N, K and δ¹³C concentrations in leaves of shrubs were found higher than herbs and subshrubs; however, P and LWP levels were higher in the leaves of subshrubs following herbs and shrubs. Moreover, leaf C showed a significant positive correlation with N and a negative correlation with δ¹³C. Leaf N exhibited a positive correlation with P. The relationship between soil and plant macro-elements was found generally insignificant but soil C and N exhibited a significant positive correlation with leaf P. Taxonomy showed a stronger effect on leaf C, N, P and δ¹³C than soil properties, explaining >50% of the total variability. C₃ plants showed higher leaf C, N, P, K and LWP concentration than C₄ plants, whereas C₄ plants had higher δ¹³C than C₃ plants. Legumes exhibited higher leaf C, N, K and LWP than nonlegumes, while nonlegumes had higher P and δ¹³C concentration than legumes. In all the species, significant phylogenetic signals (PS) were detected for C and N and nonsignificant PS for the rest of the leaf traits. In addition, these phylogenetic signals were found lower (K-value < 1), and the maximum K-value was noted for C (K = 0.35). The plants of common garden evolved and adapted themselves for their survival in the arid environment and showed convergent variations in their leaf traits. However, these variations were not phylogenetics-specific. Furthermore, marks of convergence found in leaf traits of the study area were most likely due to the environmental factors.

中文翻译：

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沙漠植物叶片性状的趋同变化。

收敛通常是由环境过滤，恶劣的气候条件和局部干扰引起的。本研究的基本目的是了解共同花园中各种荒漠植物物种的叶性状模式，以及确定诸如草，灌木和半灌木，系统发育和土壤等植物生命形式（PLF）的影响。性状的特性。六个叶性状，即碳（C），氮（N），磷（P），钾（K），δ ¹³ C和37个主导沙漠植物物种叶水势（LWP）进行了调查分析。的C，N，K和δ ¹³发现灌木叶片中的碳含量高于草药和亚灌木。然而，草本和灌木后亚灌木叶片中的P和LWP水平较高。此外，叶Ç显示出与N和一个显著正相关与δ负相关¹³ C.叶片氮表现出与P的正相关性土壤和植物的宏观元件之间的关系通常发现微不足道但土壤C和N显示出显著与叶P.分类的正相关表明在叶C，N，P更强的效果，δ ¹³比土壤性质C，解释>总变异的50％。C ₃植株的叶片C，N，P，K和LWP浓度高于C ₄植株，而C ₄植物具有更高的δ ¹³比C C ₃植物。豆类表现出较高的叶C，N，K和LWP比非豆科，而非豆科具有较高的P和δ ¹³ C浓度比豆类。在所有物种中，C和N均检测到显着的系统发育信号（PS），其余叶片性状均检测到不显着的PS。此外，发现这些系统发育信号较低（K值<1），并且记录了C的最大K值（K= 0.35）。普通花园的植物在干旱的环境中进化并适应了它们的生存，并显示出叶片性状的趋同变化。但是，这些变异不是系统发育特异性的。此外，在研究区域的叶片性状中发现的趋同标记最有可能是由于环境因素所致。