Putting vascular epiphytes on the traits map

Abstract

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Leaf trait network architecture shifts with species‐richness and climate across forests at continental scale

“…Leaf thickness contributes to multiple functional processes, being closely anatomically linked with the size of cells, the number of cell layers (John et al, 2017) and the thickness of the cuticle (John et al, 2013), and thicker leaves would be expected to have greater area‐based light absorption, nitrogen allocation, water transport and carbon fluxes per leaf area (Sack et al, 2003), as well as higher leaf mass per area (LMA) (Niinemets, 2001), and thus mechanical strength (Onoda et al, 2011). However, recent studies have provided mixed evidence, with leaf thickness and water content resolved as hub traits in epiphytes and herbs in a study of 2882 species of vascular epiphytes vascular epiphytes and non‐epiphytic herbs (Hietz et al, 2021), foliar nutrients (N, P, K, Mg) in the 52 tree species across 1000–3000 m elevations (Homeier et al, 2021) and stem specific length and biomass allocation traits in herbaceous perennial plants, rather than leaf economic traits including LMA and mass‐based leaf nitrogen concentration, in a study did not consider leaf thickness and other associated traits (Kleyer et al, 2019).…”

Effect of substrate fertility on tank-bromeliad performances

“…Hence, the variations in LMA between our three treatments do not re ect signi cant variations in the cost of leaf construction (i.e., variation in biomass investment) as would be expected based on the leaf economic spectrum (LES, Wright et al, 2004) but more likely leaf thickening. The inconsistency between A. aquilega response to soil fertility and LES expectations is probably the consequence of its naturally epiphytic lifestyle, which is supported by the recent study by Hietz et al (2021). Epiphytes have a different trait syndrome from herbaceous plants and trees, and, within epiphytes, bromeliads showed different covariation between different traits (Hietz et al 2021; Richards and Damschen 2021).…”

“…The inconsistency between A. aquilega response to soil fertility and LES expectations is probably the consequence of its naturally epiphytic lifestyle, which is supported by the recent study by Hietz et al (2021). Epiphytes have a different trait syndrome from herbaceous plants and trees, and, within epiphytes, bromeliads showed different covariation between different traits (Hietz et al 2021; Richards and Damschen 2021). In general, epiphytes have lower N and P content in their tissues than ground-rooted herbaceous plants and trees (Hietz et al 2021;Reich and Oleksyn 2004).…”

“…Epiphytes have a different trait syndrome from herbaceous plants and trees, and, within epiphytes, bromeliads showed different covariation between different traits (Hietz et al 2021; Richards and Damschen 2021). In general, epiphytes have lower N and P content in their tissues than ground-rooted herbaceous plants and trees (Hietz et al 2021;Reich and Oleksyn 2004). Epiphytes are considered slow growing plants whose traits are associated with "slow" species, because of their low foliar nutrient concentrations and long leaf lifespan (Zotz, 1998).…”

A bird in the hand: Global‐scale morphological trait datasets open new frontiers of ecology, evolution and ecosystem science

“…However, the full potential of trait‐based ecology and evolutionary biology is ultimately constrained by incomplete coverage and completeness, particularly in the case of morphological traits (Etard et al, 2020). Filling these gaps in data coverage has proved challenging, with even the best‐sampled major taxonomic groups—such as vascular plants—still lacking comprehensive morphological measurements for well over 50% of species worldwide (Hietz et al, 2021; Kattge et al, 2020; Violle et al, 2014). A major step has now been taken towards addressing this challenge with the completion of datasets containing multiple morphological traits for all 11000 bird species (Tobias et al, 2022).…”