Characteristics of modular traits and interrelationships of the ephemeral species Plantago minuta

In this study, the ephemeral species Plantago minuta, wildly distributed in the Gurbantunggut Desert in central Junggar Basin, China, was selected as the target species, and its the modular morphology, biomass allocation and allometric scaling relationships were systematically analysed based on field investigation and sampling. The results showed that, the body size of P. minuta was small, and its total biomass was only 0.402 3 g. Inaddition, the root to shoot ratio was 0.157, reproductive biomass and leaf biomass accounted for 44.2% and 36.9%, respectively, and biomass allocation was independent of body size. Significant correlations and allometric scaling relationships were generally found between modular morphological indices, between modular biomasses, and between morphological indices and biomasses. Among these, modular biomass commonly exhibited isometric scaling relationships (allometric scaling exponent=1), modular morphological indices generally showed allometric scaling relationships with the exponent >1, while allometric scaling relationships with the exponent <1 were commonly found between morphological indices and modular biomass. The results partly confirmed the theoretical prediction. The differential allometric scaling relationships of P. minuta at the modular level demonstrated different response and adaptations to the external environment and development regularity of different modular components.