物种之间生长和存活权衡策略的不同促进森林树种的共存。植物功能生态学的发展将植物个体的生物学属性与群落动态结合起来。厘清功能性状如何影响植物个体采取的生态策略，是功能性状与群落动态关系研究的首要问题。在以往研究中，往往只关注了某一个生活史阶段，从而得到了片面的结果。而且，植物群落动态既取决于物种的功能性状，同时又受制于群落内的环境条件及密度制约效应。本项目基于八大公山25 ha动态监测样地种子雨数据以及幼苗、幼树、成树的生长、存活数据，物种的功能性状数据，结合环境因子，试图研究(1) 不同生活史阶段影响植物生长、存活的关键性状因子；(2)环境条件和密度制约效应对植物个体生长、存活权衡策略的影响；(3)寻找影响群落生长、存活权衡策略的关键因子，探讨亚热带山地森林群落动态和功能的机制。本项目的实施将会建立功能性状与植物生长的关系，可望为森林生长和碳汇计算提供新的方法。

The differentiation in the trade-off strategies of plants growth and survival between different tree species promotes the species coexistence in forest community. As quantitative indicators of life strategies, plants functional traits bridge the ecophysiological characters at species individual level and the structure and dynamics of forest community. Plants functional traits reflect the trade-off of plants strategies through the whole life history. Clarifying the relationships between plants functional traits and the plants strategies was the basic issue in exploring the effects of plants functional traits on the structure and dynamics of forest community. However, most previous studies focused on the relationships between plants functional traits and the plants strategies in a certain phase (e.g. adult tree), rather than the whole life history, resulting in partial conclusions. Additionally, community dynamics are controlled not only by plants functional traits, but also by environmental factors and density dependence. In this project, based on the 25 ha dynamic monitoring plot, we monitored the forest seed rain and the followed species survival and growth conditions of seedling, sapling and adult trees, measured a set of functional traits of plants in different phases of life history, collected the data of environmental factors, and aimed to (1) find out the key functional traits which controlled the plants survival and growth in different phases of plants life history; (2) clarify the effects of environmental factors and density dependence on the trade-off strategies of plants individual survival and growth; and (3) explore the key factors in determining the trade-off strategies of forest community, and further explain the mechanisms for community dynamics in subtropical forests. The project could help us to establish reliable relationships between plants functional traits and plants growth in different phases of life history, and could also provide new methods for calculating forest growth and carbon sink.