Abstract: Winter mowing is a common strategy for Phragmites australis management, with the effects of which on community structure and growth varying in different areas. We set two winter mowing treatments, mowing + litterremoval (MN) and mowing + no litter removal (MY), to explore the effects on community diversity, community traits, individual traits and the plasticity of individual functional traits of P. australis in the Yellow River Delta, aiming to provide advice for P. australis management in this area. The results showed that winter mowing did notaffect community diversity but significantly reduced plant height, stem diameter, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, single leaf mass, total leaf mass, and total mass. Under mowing treatment, P. australis showed a trend of dwarfing but an increasing trend of abundance, resulting in stable biomass, indicating that the change of community traits may be a trade off between individual traits and community density. Under the MN treatment, the plasticity index of individual functional traits of P. australis was higher than that under MY treatment, with relatively lower density and biomass. Considering the elimination of fire risk and the rejuvenation of P. australis, aboveground portion mowing and removal is a better management method.

Key words: Phragmites australis, mowing, community diversity, functional trait, plasticity index, Yellow River Delta.