Climate‐induced plasticity in leaf traits of riparian plants

Rubio‐Ríos, Juan; Pérez, Javier Jiménez; Salinas, María; Fenoy, Encarnación; Boyero, Luz; Casas, J. Jesús

doi:10.1111/ddi.13493

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 160 publications

(170 reference statements)

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“…Do intraspecific shifts in traits along an environmental gradient mirror among‐species turnover, such that sites with taller species also tend to have taller individuals of a species (Lepš et al, 2011)? Most evidence for the form of trait–environment relationships is derived from interspecific trait variation along spatial environmental gradients (Bruelheide et al, 2018; Moles et al, 2009; Sandel et al, 2016; Sandel & Low, 2019; Šímová et al, 2018), yet in a global change context, the goal is often to predict a change through time (e.g., Gaüzère et al, 2020; Pansini et al, 2021; Rubio‐Ríos et al, 2022). This requires a space‐for‐time substitution, which may or may not be reliable (Blois et al, 2013; Damgaard, 2019; De Lombaerde et al, 2018; Johnson & Miyanishi, 2008; Pickett, 1989).…”

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confidence: 99%

Idiosyncrasy and predictability in intraspecific trait–climate relationships of grasses

Sandel,

Griffin‐Nolan

2024

Ecosphere

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Many plant species can exhibit remarkable variation in leaf characteristics, depending on their abiotic and biotic environment. Environmental changes therefore have the potential to alter leaf traits, which in turn scale up to influence ecosystem processes including net primary productivity, susceptibility to fire, and palatability to herbivores. It is not well understood how consistent trait–environment relationships are among species, across sites and over time. This presents a fundamental challenge for functional ecology, because no study can measure all relevant species in all places at all times. Thus, understanding the limits of transferability is critical. We collected leaf trait measurements on 13 species of grass (family: Poaceae) across 11 sites and five years (n = 3091 individuals). Sites were arrayed along a spatial precipitation gradient in coastal northern California (annual precipitation of 590–1350 mm) with substantial interannual precipitation variability (from 60% below the 30‐year average to 100% above average). Temporal and spatial linear relationships between precipitation and specific leaf area (SLA) appear at first idiosyncratic, with each species sometimes displaying positive and sometimes negative responses. However, this variation arises from sampling different portions of an underlying hump‐shaped relationship, which was shared across most species. This hump‐shaped relationship was driven primarily by changes in leaf tissue density. These results suggest the potential for transferability among species, as well as between space and time, as long as the gradients are sufficiently long to capture the nonlinear response. Future work could explore the physiological basis of the nonlinear SLA response, including the possibility that distinct physiological mechanisms are operating at the two extremes of the gradient.

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