Within- and among-species variation in specific leaf area drive community assembly in a tropical cloud forest

Long, Wenxing; Zang, Runguo; Schamp, Brandon S.

doi:10.1007/s00442-011-2050-9

Cited by 72 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…While occasional herbivore outbreaks can lead to significant defoliation, in old-field systems, most herbivores are relatively rare most of the time[67], leading most plants to experience chronic low-levels of tissue loss as were applied in this experiment. Additionally, while SLA and LMDC are highly plastic traits in response to environmental drivers[68–70], and herbivory is well known to induce a broad array of changes in plants, we found no evidence that simulated defoliation significantly affected any of the leaf-level traits. It is possible that this lack of a response was due the relatively low levels of defoliation.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 66%

Variation in Plant Response to Herbivory Underscored by Functional Traits

2016

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The effects of herbivory can shape plant communities and evolution. However, the many forms of herbivory costs and the wide variation in herbivory pressure, including across latitudinal gradients, can make predicting the effects of herbivory on different plant species difficult. Functional trait approaches may aid in contextualizing and standardizing the assessment of herbivory impacts. Here we assessed the response of 26 old-field plant species to simulated defoliation in a greenhouse setting by measuring whole plant and leaf level traits in control and treated individuals. Simulated defoliation had no significant effects on any plant traits measured. However, the baseline leaf level traits of healthy plants consistently predicted the log response ratio for these species whole plant response to defoliation. The latitudinal mid-point of species’ distributions was also significantly correlated with aboveground biomass and total leaf area responses, with plants with a more northern distribution being more negatively impacted by treatment. These results indicate that even in the absence of significant overall impacts, functional traits may aid in predicting variability in plant responses to defoliation and in identifying the underlying limitations driving those responses.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 66%

Variation in Plant Response to Herbivory Underscored by Functional Traits

2016

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“…We predicted that leaf-trait relationships would be strong within communities containing a broad mix of leaf types; however, trait relationships would be weaker in communities with low variation in LLS. Ecologists are increasingly using leaf trait variation to infer community-level function; many recent studies have used either LMA or leaf dry-matter content as an indicator of ''plant function'' to interpret community-level patterns (e.g., Brym et al 2011, Falster et al 2011, Long et al 2011) and ecosystem services (Lavorel and Grigulis 2012). Thus, there is a pressing need to understand how the LES can be applied within communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leaf traits within communities: Context may affect the mapping of traits to function

Funk

Cornwell

2013

Ecology

109

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Abstract. The leaf economics spectrum (LES) has revolutionized the way many ecologists think about quantifying plant ecological trade-offs. In particular, the LES has connected a clear functional trade-off (long-lived leaves with slow carbon capture vs. short-lived leaves with fast carbon capture) to a handful of easily measured leaf traits. Building on this work, community ecologists are now able to quickly assess species carbon-capture strategies, which may have implications for community-level patterns such as competition or succession. However, there are a number of steps in this logic that require careful examination, and a potential danger arises when interpreting leaf-trait variation among species within communities where trait relationships are weak. Using data from 22 diverse communities, we show that relationships among three common functional traits (photosynthetic rate, leaf nitrogen concentration per mass, leaf mass per area) are weak in communities with low variation in leaf life span (LLS), especially communities dominated by herbaceous or deciduous woody species. However, globally there are few LLS data sets for communities dominated by herbaceous or deciduous species, and more data are needed to confirm this pattern. The context-dependent nature of trait relationships at the community level suggests that leaf-trait variation within communities, especially those dominated by herbaceous and deciduous woody species, should be interpreted with caution.

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“…The knowledge gap regarding the scaling of trait relationships is especially important since the variance in individual traits is often interpreted as reflecting trait dimensions (Falster et al 2011, Long et al 2011, Hulshof et al 2013.…”

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confidence: 99%

Trait variation and integration across scales: is the leaf economic spectrum present at local scales?

et al. 2016

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Trait-based approaches have taken an increasingly dominant role in community ecology. Although trait-based strategy dimensions such as the leaf economic spectrum (LES) have been identified primarily at global-scales, trait variation at the community scale is often interpreted in this context. Here we argue from several lines of evidence that a research priority should be to determine whether global-scale trait relationships hold at more local scales. We review recent literature assessing trait variation at smaller scales, and then present a case study exploring the relationship between the correlation strength of leaf traits and their similarity in variation structure across ecological scales. We find that the correlation strength between pairs of leaf traits does not predict whether the traits respond similarly to different drivers of variation. Instead, correlation strength only sets an upper bound to the dissimilarity in trait variation structure. With moderate correlation strengths, LES traits largely retain the ability to respond independently to different drivers of phenotypic variation at different scales. Recent literature and our results suggest that LES relationships may not hold at local scales. Clarifying under what conditions and at which scales the LES is consistently expressed is necessary for us to make the most of the emerging trait toolbox.

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Within- and among-species variation in specific leaf area drive community assembly in a tropical cloud forest

Cited by 72 publications

References 42 publications

Variation in Plant Response to Herbivory Underscored by Functional Traits

Variation in Plant Response to Herbivory Underscored by Functional Traits

Leaf traits within communities: Context may affect the mapping of traits to function

Trait variation and integration across scales: is the leaf economic spectrum present at local scales?

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