Abstract: This paper studied the phenotypic plasticity of Agriophyllum squarrosum under effects of soil nutrient and moisture contents and population density. The results showed that with the increase of soil nutrient content, the root/shoot ratio of A. squarrosum was decreased from 0.135 to 0.073. However, soil moisture content and population density had less effect on the root/shoot ratio. The plasticity of reproductive allocation of A. squarrosum as responding to the changes of soil nutrient and moisture contents was a “real plasticity”, and the allocation was negatively correlated with soil nutrient content but positively correlated with soil moisture content. When soil nutrient content was high or moisture content was low, the reproductive allocation of A.squarrosum changed larger with plant size. Population density had no effects on the reproductive allocation, while plant size conditioned the allocation. Among the three test affecting factors, soil nutrient content had the greatest effects on the morphological characters and biomass of A.squarrosum.

Key words: economic benefit, retention density, Cunninghamia lanceolata plantation, biomass