Are leaf, stem and hydraulic traits good predictors of individual tree growth?

Rosas, Teresa; Mencuccini, Maurizio; Batlles, Carles; Regalado, Íngrid; Saura-Mas, Sandra; Sterck, Frank J.; Martínez‐Vilalta, Jordi

doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13906

Cited by 22 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…This result suggests that while hydraulic traits, in particular P 50 and safety margins, may be linked to drought‐induced mortality, this link may be less clear for growth reductions, at least in our site. Under non‐drought conditions but across a water availability gradient in a Mediterranean climate where water is expected to be limited at least at some locations, Rosas et al (2021) found that functional and hydraulic traits were poor predictors of tree growth—further supporting our findings that hydraulic traits are not necessarily good predictors of tree growth under drought conditions. Soft functional traits were also weak predictors of growth at our site during drought, with only species with denser wood having slightly less growth decline during drought and trees with higher specific leaf area having greater drought‐induced growth declines on steep slopes where water is more limited (Schwartz et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Hydraulic traits are not robust predictors of tree species stem growth during a severe drought in a wet tropical forest

et al. 2022

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Severe droughts have led to lower plant growth and high mortality in many ecosystems worldwide, including tropical forests. Drought vulnerability differs among species, but there is limited consensus on the nature and degree of this variation in tropical forest communities. Understanding species‐level vulnerability to drought requires examination of hydraulic traits since these reflect the different strategies species employ for surviving drought. Here, we examined hydraulic traits and growth reductions during a severe drought for 12 common woody species in a wet tropical forest community in Puerto Rico to ask: Q1. To what extent can hydraulic traits predict growth declines during drought? We expected that species with more hydraulically vulnerable xylem and narrower safety margins (SMP50) would grow less during drought. Q2. How does species successional association relate to the levels of vulnerability to drought and hydraulic strategies? We predicted that early‐ and mid‐successional species would exhibit more acquisitive strategies, making them more susceptible to drought than shade‐tolerant species. Q3. What are the different hydraulic strategies employed by species and are there trade‐offs between drought avoidance and drought tolerance? We anticipated that species with greater water storage capacity would have leaves that lose turgor at higher xylem water potential and be less resistant to embolism forming in their xylem (P50). We found a large range of variation in hydraulic traits across species; however, they did not closely capture the magnitude of growth declines during drought. Among larger trees (≥10 cm diameter at breast height—DBH), some tree species with high xylem embolism vulnerability (P50) and risk of hydraulic failure (SMP50) experienced substantial growth declines during drought, but this pattern was not consistent across species. We found a trade‐off among species between drought avoidance (capacitance) and drought tolerating (P50) in this tropical forest community. Hydraulic strategies did not align with successional associations. Instead, some of the more drought‐vulnerable species were shade‐tolerant dominants in the community, suggesting that a drying climate could lead to shifts in long‐term forest composition and function in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Hydraulic traits are not robust predictors of tree species stem growth during a severe drought in a wet tropical forest

et al. 2022

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“…A study of temperate forest showed that evergreen species spend most time in structure construction while deciduous species get the peak of leaf mass area soon after sprout (Ye, et al 2022), which indicated that deciduous species are "opportunist" which tend to favor quick resource turnover before the bad seasons, while evergreen species invest more resources in conservation and defense to get through the unfavorable seasons (Bai, et al 2015, Muledi, et al 2020. The difference of leaf traits and shifts of trait-rate relationship along environments between leaf habits may partially explain why many previous studies found limited correlation between functional traits and growth rate (Paine, et al 2015, Rosas, et al 2021, because there are complicated trait-environment interactions in a mixed forest (Feng, et al 2022, Vargas, et al 2021.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Interactions between leaf traits and environmental factors enhance the understanding of leaf habits in a subtropical forest

Qin

Wang

yang

et al. 2023

Preprint

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It is well known that evergreen and deciduous species have different functional traits and utilize different strategies in growth and adaptation to environments, however little work has been done to elucidate whether leaf habit mediate the effect of trait-environment interactions on plant performance. Here we wanted to illuminate whether relative growth rate of deciduous and evergreen species depended on multiple trait-environment interactions. We measured eight leaf traits of 1230 individuals from 25 species and collected topographic factors, edaphic variables and competition index in a subtropic evergreen and deciduous mixed forest. Then we modeled plant relative growth rate with high-order trait-environment interactions for evergreen and deciduous species respectively using generalized linear mixed model and visualized the difference between leaf habits. Results showed that leaf habits were divided by trait PC1 (41.8%) which was related to leaf lifespan and resource acquisition. We found that trait-environment interactions improved growth predictions for both leaf habits but the optimal models for them were different. Moreover, the explanatory power of deciduous species models was always higher than that of evergreens. These results indicated that leaf habits with different life history strategies were reflected by trait-environment interactions. We emphasized the importance of leaf habits in explaining forest productivity and functions, and future research should focus on the effects of leaf habits on other demographic metrics and spatial patterns to solve the coexistence of the two leaf habits in mixed forests.

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“…Differences in function are relevant in the context of community assembly, population dynamics and ecosystem processes under ongoing environmental change, with populations of the same species capable of responding differently (Bolnick et al, 2011; Kichenin et al, 2013; Rosas et al, 2021; Siefert et al, 2015; Tito et al, 2021; Vilà‐Cabrera et al, 2015). For example, intraspecific variation can drive differences in soil stability (Ali et al, 2017), rates of leaf litter decomposition (Lecerf & Chauvet, 2008) and radial growth rates (Laforest‐Lapointe et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High intraspecific trait variation results in a resource allocation spectrum of a subtropical pine across an elevational gradient

O'Sullivan

Vilà‐Cabrera

Chen

et al. 2022

Journal of Biogeography

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Aim: Plant functional traits are broadly used to quantify and predict impacts of climate change on vegetation. However, high intraspecific trait variation can bias mean values when few measurements are available. Here, we determine the extent of individual leaf trait variation and covariation across a highly heterogeneous environmental gradient for a widely distributed subtropical pine. We demonstrate the implications of trait variation for characterising species by assessing data availability and variability across the Pinus genus.Location: Central Mountain Range, Taiwan.Taxon: Pinus taiwanensis Hayata (Pinaceae). Methods:We measured eight functional traits suggested to reflect plant strategies: needle length, area, thickness, dry and fresh mass, stomatal row density (SD), leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and specific leaf area (SLA). We examined trait variation in response to climatic and physiographic factors across an elevational gradient of 495-3106 m a.s.l. using linear mixed effects models (LMMs). Intraspecific trait covariation was explored using principal component analyses (PCAs) and LMMs. Descriptive statistics were calculated for Pinus records in the global TRY plant trait database.Results: Intraspecific variability among traits was high (CV 20%-44%) and predictable with elevation (generally p < 0.05, with declining needle size and LDMC with elevation and increasing SD). However, 41%-92% of variance was un-explained by topography. Sixty-five percent of variation was explained by two trait covariation axes, with predictable changes with elevation (p < 0.001). Pinus data availability in TRY was low.Across traits, only 12.5%-53% of species had sufficient sample sizes for intraspecific analyses. Main conclusions:We show substantial trait variation for a single species, here likely driven by temperature differences and additional biotic and abiotic drivers across the elevational range. Improved understanding of the extent and implications of intraspecific variability is necessary for reliable quantifications and predictions of the impacts of environmental change, especially in understudied, hyper-diverse ecosystems such as tropical forests.

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Are leaf, stem and hydraulic traits good predictors of individual tree growth?

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat ive Commo ns Attri bution-NonCo mmercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Cited by 22 publications

References 65 publications

Hydraulic traits are not robust predictors of tree species stem growth during a severe drought in a wet tropical forest

Hydraulic traits are not robust predictors of tree species stem growth during a severe drought in a wet tropical forest

Interactions between leaf traits and environmental factors enhance the understanding of leaf habits in a subtropical forest

High intraspecific trait variation results in a resource allocation spectrum of a subtropical pine across an elevational gradient

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