The acquisitive–conservative axis of leaf trait variation emerges even in homogeneous environments

Published in Annals of Botany, Volume 129, Issue 6, Pages 709–722
Authors

Lucas D. Gorné, Sandra Díaz, Vanessa Minden3, Yusuke Onoda, Koen Kramer, Christopher Muir,  Sean T. Michaletz, Sandra Lavorel, Joanne Sharpe, Steven Jansen, Martijn Slot Eduardo Chacon Gerhard Boenisch
Publication year 2020
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcaa198
Affiliations
  • Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas Físicas y Naturales, Córdoba, Argentina.
  • Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, CONICET, IMBiV, Córdoba, Argentina.
  • Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences, Landscape Ecology Group, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
  • Department of Biology, Ecology and Biodiversity, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
  • Division of Forest and Biomaterials Science, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Oiwake, Kitashirakawa, Kyoto, Japan.
  • Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
  • Department of Botany, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, HI, USA.
  • Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
  • Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine, CNRS, Grenoble, France.
  • Sharplex Services, Edgecomb, ME 04556, USA.
  • Institute of Systematic Botany and Ecology, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany.
  • Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City, Republic of Panama.
  • School of Biology, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
  • Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.
IAI Program
  • Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica
  • Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas [PIP 11220130100103]
  • Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba [33620180100767CB and PRIMAR Res 248/18]
  • the InterAmerican Institute for Global Change Research [SGP-HW 090]
  • Newton Fund (Natural Environment Research Council, UK and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas, Argentina)
IAI Project SGP-HW 090
Keywords
Leaf functional traits
acquisitive syndrome
conservative syndrome
leaf economics spectrum
intraspecific trait variation
common garden experiment
Fabaceae
Poaceae
PDFThe acquisitive-conservative axis of leaf trait variation emerges even in homogeneous environments.pdf

Abstract

The acquisitive/conservative axis of plant ecological strategies results in a pattern of leaf trait covariation that captures the balance between leaf construction costs and plant growth potential. Studies evaluating trait covariation within species are scarcer, and have mostly dealt with variation in response to environmental gradients. Little work has been published on intraspecific patterns of leaf trait covariation in the absence of strong environmental variation.