Effects of soil conditions and growth stage
Correlations among trait canalization, integration and plasticity not
only varied with greater densities, but such variations also change with
soil conditions and growth stages.
(Goswami et al. , 2015) showed an
increase in correlation between fluctuating asymmetry and integration
over time. But we found correlations among integration, canalization and
plasticity increased over time in infertile soil, and decreased over
time in fertile soil. As competition intensity may increase over time in
infertile soil, and decrease over time in fertile soil
(Wang et al. , 2017), soil
condition and growth stage may also affect these correlations through
modifying plant size and competition intensity. Additionally, since the
positive correlations between integration and plasticity became stronger
with higher densities in fertile soil only, it suggested plants in
favorable conditions are more able to deal with the increase of density
via coordination of trait plasticity and integration, whereas
unfavorable conditions may attenuate this ability.