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Functional assembly of grassland plant species in native communities in Spain and recipient communities in California

A major aim in invasion ecology is to understand the role of exotic species in plant communities. Whereas most studies have explored the traits of exotic species in the context of the introduced community, functional comparisons of entire assemblages of species in their native and introduced communities have rarely been analysed. Taking advantage of the unidirectional invasion of plant species of European origin (i.e. colonizers) into California, this study aims to investigate the relative importance of plant traits, environmental factors, and invasion status in biological invasions. We compared the functional structure (i.e. trait composition and diversity) along with resource availability gradients in recipient and native Mediterranean grassland communities in California and Spain, respectively. Traits were related to resource use in above- and belowground organs and reproductive strategy. We also investigated how niche differences vary along environmental gradients between coexisting colonizer and native species assemblages within communities. There were clear differences in the functional structure of Mediterranean grassland communities between regions, which were associated with the resource availability gradient. Paradoxically, the most acquisitive communities occurred in resource-poor sites, highlighting that rapid acquisition and use of resources permit species to cope with environmental stress through stress avoidance. In Spain, colonizer species had greater SLA than non-colonizers. Yet, differences between colonizer and non-colonizer species in Spain for other traits were mostly absent and did not change along the gradient. This might be a result of the greater native species richness as a consequence of the agricultural practices that have taken place in Europe for millennia and reflect that the entire species pool of grasslands is adapted to agricultural landscapes. In comparison, in California, colonizer species were more acquisitive in their use of resources than natives under favourable conditions, but functionally converged in resource-limited sites. This result in the recipient region underscores that the importance of niche differences between native and colonizer species as a community assembly mechanism is strongly subject to the influence of habitat filtering. Trait comparisons are context-dependent, and a correct interpretation of filtering processes in community assembly requires a regional perspective.

Ecological and metabolomic responses of plants to deer exclosure in a suburban forest

Trees and shrubs in suburban forests can be subject to chronic herbivory from abundant white-tailed deer, influencing survival, growth, secondary metabolites and ecological success in the community. We investigated how deer affect the size, cover, and metabolomes of four species in the understory of a suburban forest in central New Jersey, USA: the woody shrubs Euonymus alatus and Lindera benzoin, the tree Nyssa sylvatica, and the semi-woody shrub Rosa multiflora. For each species, we compared plants in 38 16 m2 plots with or without deer exclosure, measuring proportion cover and mean height after 6.5 years of fencing. We scored each species in all plots for deer browsing over eight years and assessed selection by deer among the species. We did untargeted metabolomics by sampling leaves from three plants of each species in an equal number of fenced and unfenced plots, conducting chloroform-methanol extractions followed by LC-MS/MS, and conducting statistical analysis on MetaboAnalyst. The proportion of a species browsed ranged from 0.24 to 0.35. Nyssa sylvatica appeared most selected by and susceptible to deer; in unfenced plots both its cover and mean height were significantly lower. Only cover or height was lower for E. alatus and L. benzoin in unfenced plots, while R. multiflora height was greater. The metabolomic analysis identified 2,333 metabolites, which clustered by species but not fencing treatment. However, targeted analysis of the top metabolites grouped by fencing for all samples and for each species alone, and was especially clear in N. sylvatica, which also grouped by fencing using all metabolites. The most significant metabolites that were upregulated in fenced plants include some involved in defense-related metabolic pathways, e.g. monoterpenoid biosynthesis. In overbrowsed suburban forests, variation of deer impact on species' ecological success, potentially mediated by metabolome-wide chemical responses to deer, may contribute to changes in community structure.

Data from: Ancestral area analyses reveal Pleistocene-influenced evolution in a clade of Coastal Plain endemic plants

AIM: The North American Coastal Plain is currently recognized as a global biodiversity hotspot. However, the mechanisms driving high levels of species richness in a region with relatively low topographic relief and homogeneous climate are unclear. We investigated the evolutionary processes driving ancestral area evolution and diversification in a biodiversity hotspot from both a systematic and biogeographic context using a clade endemic to the hotspot. LOCATION: North American Coastal Plain TAXON: The Scrub Mint clade comprises Dicerandra, Conradina, Piloblephis, Stachydeoma, and four species of Clinopodium (Mentheae; Lamiaceae), almost all of which are endemic to the North American Coastal Plain. METHODS: We generated a dated phylogeny using a target enrichment/capture dataset and then calculated ancestral area using biogeographic models. We uncovered neo- and paleo-endemism hotspots and inferred ancestral potential ranges at each node based on ancestral niche reconstructions and paleoclimatic data to understand the geographic range evolution of subclades. RESULTS: Ancestral area for the SMC was inferred to be the Florida Panhandle/Apalachicola River basin. A diversification event likely happened around the mid-Pleistocene Transition. Endemism hotspots were recovered in NE Florida, the Atlantic Coastal Ridge, and along the Lake Wales Ridge. Reconstructions of potential ranges support biogeographic findings, with the ancestor of the SMC likely located in the vicinity of the northeastern Gulf Coast during interglacial and glacial periods. MAIN CONCLUSIONS: The timing of diversification events and colonization of new areas by ancestors of the SMC is consistent with the timing of major geological events in the region. The presence of multiple types of endemism highlights the complexity of evolutionary and ecological processes that foster the large number of endemic taxa found in this region. Efforts to identify hotspots in this region will be critical to preserving the remaining pockets of biodiversity threatened by global change.

Evolutionary history and precipitation seasonality shape niche overlap in Neotropical bat-plant pollination networks

Species interactions are one dimension of the niche, and niche overlap arises when two species share an interaction partner. In pollination systems, environmental and biotic factors impact the niche overlap. Here we explored the effects of climate seasonality, plant and bat richness, morphological traits, and phylogenetic distance in shaping the niche overlap of Neotropical bat-plant pollination networks. For that, we used a dataset of 22 bat-plant pollination networks in the Neotropical region. We measured niche overlap in bats and plants with the Morisita-Horn index, ĈH, and then, we used a SAR model to test the relationships between niche overlap and the abiotic and biotic factors. We found a lower niche overlap among bats in communities composed of phylogenetically distant bat species. Moreover, plant and bat overlap were lower in regions with higher precipitation seasonality. Our results indicate that climate seasonality and bat evolutionary history drive niche overlap in Neotropical bat-plant pollination interactions. These findings suggest that a higher precipitation seasonality may promote the emergence of temporal modules reducing niche overlap, probably as a consequence of seasonal species phenologies. Furthermore, the method used to record the interactions impacts the degree of niche overlap. Interactions recorded with pollen samples tend to have higher niche overlap than direct observations. The uncoupled responses of morphological traits and phylogenetic distances in bat niche overlap suggest an effect of historical processes independently of the morphological traits. Our study reinforced the importance of evolutionary history and ecological processes in imprinting patterns of interaction niche overlap.

Pollinator foraging tactics have divergent consequences for the mating system of a tropical plant

Resolving the consequences of pollinator foraging behaviour for plant mating systems is a fundamental challenge in evolutionary ecology. Pollinators may adopt particular foraging tactics: complete trapline foraging (repeated movements along a fixed route), sample-and-shift trapline foraging (a variable route that incorporates information from previous experiences), and territorial foraging (stochastic movements within a restricted area). Studies that integrate these pollinator foraging tactics with plant mating systems are generally lacking. We investigate the consequences of particular pollinator foraging tactics for Heliconia tortuosa. We combine parentage and sibship inference analysis with simulation modeling to: (1) estimate mating system parameters; (2) infer the foraging tactic adopted by the pollinators; and (3) quantify the impact of pollinator foraging tactics on mating system parameters. We found high outcrossing rates, ubiquitous multiple paternity, and a pronounced departure from near-neighbour mating. We also found that plants repeatedly receive pollen from a series of particular donors. We infer that the pollinators primarily adopt complete trapline foraging and occasionally engage in sample-and-shift trapline foraging. This enhances multiple paternity without a substantial increase in near-neighbour mating. The particular pollinator foraging tactics have divergent consequences for multiple paternity and near-neighbour mating. Thus, pollinator foraging behaviour is an important driver of the ecology and evolution of plant mating systems.

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2022View details →

Fluorescence complementation enables quantitative imaging of cell penetrating peptide-mediated protein delivery in plants including WUSCHEL transcription factor

These are data related to the manuscript titled "Fluorescence complementation enables quantitative imaging of cell penetrating peptide-mediated protein delivery in plants including WUSCHEL transcription factor" whose preprint can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.03.490515

Data for: Light competition drives herbivore and nutrient effects on plant diversity

Nutrient enrichment and loss of herbivores are assumed to cause plant diversity loss in grassland ecosystems because they increase plant cover that decreases understory light. Empirical tests of the role of competition for light in natural systems are based on indirect evidence and have contributed to strong debates over the last 40 years. Using illumination by LED-lamps, we demonstrate that experimentally restoring light to understory plants in a natural grassland mitigated the loss of plant diversity caused either by nutrient enrichment or the absence of mammalian herbivores. The initial effect of light addition on restoring diversity under fertilization was transitory and outweighed by the greater effect of herbivory on light levels, highlighting herbivory as a major factor controlling diversity, partly via light. Our results provide the first direct experimental demonstration in a natural system that competition for light is a major mechanism contributing to biodiversity loss under cessation of mammalian herbivory. Our results also demonstrate that herbivore effects can outpace fertilization effects on competition for light. Management practices that target maintaining grazing by native or domestic herbivores may have applied utility for protecting biodiversity in grassland ecosystems because they alleviate competition for light in the understory.

Data from: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi communities shaped by host-plant affect the outcome of plant-soil feedback in dryland restoration

1. Plant inoculation with Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can be a useful tool to overcome challenges in dry forest restoration. However, advances are still needed to guide choices regarding soil origin and inoculum production methods, since outcomes can vary due to plant-soil feedbacks (PSF). We evaluate how soil origin and host plant used for inoculum production affect AMF community and therefore the plant biomass accumulation and functional traits. 2. In the conditioning phase, we investigated whether soils originating from a recovered area (Quarry) and a vegetation fragment (Caatinga) would have their AMF communities modified due to the growth of Sorghum bicolor (used for inoculum production) and Senna uniflora (used in Brazilian semiarid restoration). In the feedback phase, we compared the performance of four plants species growing on a degraded soil and inoculated or not by a mixture of AMF isolates in comparison to soil inoculum prepared from the conditioning phase. 3. The inoculum from Caatinga presented seven times more AMF species compared to that from the Quarry, which presented ruderal and stress tolerant species. The soil inoculum conditioned by S. uniflora, regardless of origin, presented greater evenness compared to the soil inoculum produced with S. bicolor and promoted 33% more plant biomass compared to the control without inoculation. Root colonization by AMF increased PSF and decreased plant investment in functional traits such as specific root length (SRL) and specific leaf area (SLA). 4. Our results demonstrate the importance of adopting strategies that preserve local adaptation of inoculants produced. The use of native plant for propagation of native AMF in the conditioning phase provided more positive responses for Mesosphaerum suaveolens and Rhaphiodon echinus than inoculated with introduced AMF isolates. This is probably due to the interaction of inoculated plants with responsive AMF present in the soil. 5. Synthesis and applications: Our study shows that conditioning field-collected soil with S. uniflora and using it for inoculation can be a simple technique to promote biomass accumulation for other native herbaceous species. This preserves the compatibility between the soil inoculum produced with native AMF and native plants, representing an important tool for restoration programs.

Contrasting soil- and canopy-nurse effects on dependent species in metalliferous systems may be explained by dominant plant functional strategies

Plant-plant interaction studies in metalliferous systems have focused either on the role of facilitation or on the negative effects of elemental allelopathy. However, no studies have investigated both of these effects in the same system, and their relationships with the functional strategy of the nurse species, although this is crucial for the ecological restoration of polluted sites. We assessed the effects of two dominant nurse species, with apparent contrasting strategies, on two target species on a slag heap in the Pyrenees (France). We quantified both long-term soil-engineering and short-term canopy effects on the growth of two target species. We also measured morphological traits and leaf metal concentration of the two nurse species and their effects on air moisture, temperature, and vapour pressure deficit. Nurse functional strategies, as inferred from morphological traits and leaf metal concentration seem to drive their long-term soil engineering effects on target species: Gypsophila repens, the relatively larger and more exploitative species with high leaf metal concentration, had negative long-term effects likely due to elemental allelopathy, whereas Minuartia verna, the relatively smaller and more conservative species with a lower amount of metals in leaves, had neutral long-term effects. Although Gypsophila repens had a slightly stronger positive effect on microclimate than Minuartia verna, this did not turn into higher short-term effects for the target species. Our study highlights the possible role of the nurse's functional strategies in driving the relative importance of long and short-term effects on target species in metalliferous systems. This knowledge is key to increasing our understanding of plant-plant interaction outcomes in metalliferous systems and our ability to restore polluted environments.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2022View details →

Laser Ablation Tomography of Woody Plants

Movies generated by LATscan from stems of distinct woody vines (climbing plants). Movie 1 illustrates anastomoses and splitting between vascular cylinders in the compound stem of Paullinia pinnata (Sapindaceae), a woody vine normally growing in tropical forests. Movie 2 illustrates the wood and bark of the adult stem of four species of woody vines. The movie starts off showing the transverse view, then reorients to a tangential view. Species name (from left to right): Wisteria floribunda, Gnetum urens, Cocculus orbiculatus and Menispermum canadense. The videos are associated to the paper "Laser ablation tomography (LATscan) as a new tool for anatomical studies of woody plants".

opencc-by-4.0Aug 2022View details →

Data from: Biotic homogenization and differentiation of plant communities in tropical and subtropical forests

<h4>The article is published in Conservation Biology and available at: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14025">https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.14025</a></h4> <h4>Here we developed a framework to assess the current 'state of the art' of biotic homogenization and differentiation processes in tropical and subtropical plant communities globally, using a systematic literature review.</h4> <h4>Please find below the analysis code and data used in the study.</h4> <h2>Descriptions for the files and scripts</h2> <h3>The `R` folder contains.</h3> 1. *analysis_homogenization-differentiation.R* - script to generate the frequency and explanatory plots used in the manuscript. <h3> The `output` folder contains:</h3> 1. figures     1. *Fig.1.tiff* - Figure 1 main text.     2. *Fig.2.tiff* - Figure 2 main text.     3. *Fig.3.tiff* - Figure 3 main text.     4. *Fig.4.tiff* - Figure 4 main text.     5. *Fig.5.tiff* - Figure 5 main text.     6. *Fig.6.tiff* - Figure 6 main text.     7. *Fig.7.tiff* - Figure 7 main text. 2. supp    1. *appendix_S1-homogenization-differentiation.xlsx* - Supplementary material of the article. The file contains 4 sheets (*data*, *legend*, *scales_size* and *search_keywords*) <h3> The `data` folder contains:</h3> 1. processed     1. *data_homogenization_refined.xlsx* - the data used in the analysis. Each analyzed variable was separated by a different sheet. 1. raw     1. *data_homogenization.xlsx* - the raw data used in the analysis.   <h2>Acknowledgments</h2> This work was financed by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) (Finance code 001), through Portal de Periódicos to articles access and scholarship granted to J.M.F.K.

How detritivores, plant traits and time modulate coupling of leaf versus woody litter decomposition rates across species

1. Plant functional traits are increasingly used to understand ecological relationships and (changing) ecosystem functions. For understanding ecosystem-level biogeochemistry, we need to understand how (much) traits co-vary between different plant organs across species, and its implications for litter decomposition. However, we do not know how the degree of synchronous variation in decomposition rates between organs across species could be influenced by different keystone invertebrates decomposing different senesced plant organs, especially in warm-climate forests. Here we asked whether interspecific patterns in wood and leaf decomposition rates and in the spectra of resource economics traits underpinning them, co-vary across woody species; and how (much) the keystone invertebrate decomposers of the litter of these organs enhance or lower such co-variation of decomposition rates through time. 2. We addressed these questions through an 18-month "common-garden" decomposition experiment using leaf, twig and branch litter of 41 woody species in two distant subtropical forest sites in east China. We quantified the effects of leaf, twig, and branch functional traits and their respective key invertebrates (moth larvae, termites) on the decomposition rates of those organs. 3. Interspecific variation in wood traits was partly decoupled from that in leaf traits across species, while strong coupling was found between twigs and branches. The co-variation between leaf and woody organ decomposition rates was altered dynamically through the shifting activities of the key decomposers, which created non-linear relationships of invertebrate litter consumption as a function of species rankings along the resource economic trait spectra of leaves and branches. 4. The deviations from coupling of decomposition rates between organs were likely caused by combinations of three mechanisms: (1) (de-)coupling between organs of other traits, not commonly considered in resource economics spectra (e.g., resins) (2) leaf and wood decomposers having specific diet requirements, and (3) temporal patterns of the decomposers' activity. 5. Synthesis. Our study highlights the importance of considering the different ways by which invertebrate detritivores drive decomposition processes through time. Under the ongoing biodiversity decline, future research would benefit from a better understanding of the role of the dynamic interactions between detritivore activities and plant functional traits on the carbon turnover in ecosystems.

opencc-by-4.0Jul 2022View details →

POLYPHEM - The future of small-scale Concentrated Solar Power plants

☀️ The POLYPHEM project aims to improve the performance of small-scale Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants and their flexibility to generate power on demand. To this end, POLYPHEM develops a new technology: an innovative, solar-driven Micro-gas turbine which would help meet the variable energy demand of a mini-grid. 📺 Watch our video to discover more about the POLYPHEM project and the future of small-scale Concentrated Solar Power plants! Follow us on: ► Website: www.polyphem-project.eu ► Twitter: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbk5Bb3lCX0hKOVBhTHJPbWQ0Qm9iMkplaDQtZ3xBQ3Jtc0ttam12Rmk3MG5zR09BMkFpMGNWVndva1FIZU1sTU1Vdk1ENHpsTGRNT2h1cklIcVpuS0VvVU1DMGZ4OC1VQ3dVb0daam5mRGVOZ05YeUxSY01saWRJSkhxa3NyYkxQN0VrUTVHdDBhZkFjNE5NVjBlVQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FH2020CSP&v=Lw_JCO8S734">https://twitter.com/H2020CSP</a> ► LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqay0xZHJwT0tqNEZKSzBYUEdURkNEemFUY3dLZ3xBQ3Jtc0tsNy1GSlQwSjlhMmdUNThyc2c0ZFBmRlRvMDVpa3JCVHliMVJRTDVPM1lwWFJwWTd1bkRFaWVqUTZUM2l3b3FPM3h2TFkwSlFNazJZcVBpT2FIUkwyMmQ4TzdxMHI5MXFjeGJjS0J5WWZneFd0TTA2WQ&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fcompany%2Fpolyphem&v=Lw_JCO8S734">https://www.linkedin.com/company/poly...</a> 🇪🇺 This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 764048. EDIT: This is an updated version of the POLYPHEM video.

Barley endosomal MONENSIN SENSITIVITY1 is a target of the powdery mildew effector CSEP0162 and plays a role in plant immunity

Encasements formed around haustoria and biotrophic hyphae as well as hypersensitive reaction (HR) cell death are essential plant immune responses to filamentous pathogens. In this study we examine the components that may contribute to the absence of these responses in susceptible barley attacked by the powdery mildew fungus. We find that the effector CSEP0162 from this pathogen targets plant MONENSIN SENSITIVITY1 (MON1), which is important for the fusion of multivesicular bodies to their target membranes. Overexpression of CSEP0162 and silencing of barley MON1 both inhibit encasement formation. We find that the Arabidopsis ecotype No-0 has resistance to powdery mildew, and that this is partially dependent on MON1. Surprisingly, we find the MON1-dependent resistance in No-0 not only includes an encasement response, but also an effective HR. Similarly, silencing of MON1 in barley also blocks Mla3-mediated HR-based powdery mildew resistance. Our results indicate that MON1 is a vital plant immunity component, and we speculate that the barley powdery mildew fungus introduces the effector CSEP0162 to target MON1 and hence reduces encasement formation and HR.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2022View details →

Raw data on water, submerged plants, benthic cyanobacteria, and sediments in ecological experiments

This study aimed to determine the effects of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) on the growth of submerged macrophytes (Vallisneria natans) and benthic cyanobacteria (Leptolyngbya sp.), and analyze the redistribution of N and P in the water and sediments under nutrient loading. We detected a total of nine experimental gradients (two replicates), totaling 18 treatment groups at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, and 50 d. The final resulting raw data include the concentrations of physicochemical factors (the pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), redox potential (Eh), electrical conductivity (EC), total phosphorus (TP), and total nitrogen (TN)) in the water, chlorophyll a (Chl-a) in the water, V. natans, and Leptolyngbya sp. biofilms. The dry weight (DW), plant height and ramet numbers of V. natans, and the TP amount in V. natans and sediments were also measured.

Hotspots of (sub)alpine plants in the Irano-Anatolian Global Biodiversity Hotspot are insufficiently protected

Aim: The mountainous regions in SW Asia harbours a high number of endemic species, many of which are restricted to the high-elevation zone. The (sub)alpine habitats of the region are under particular threat due to global change, but their biodiversity hotspots and conservation status have not been investigated so far. Location: Subalpine-alpine habitats of SW Asia Methods: Distribution data of all (sub)alpine vascular plant species of the region was compiled, resulting in 19,680 localities from 1672 (sub)alpine species, the majority of them being restricted to the region (76%). Six quantitative indices of species diversity were used on the basis of 0.5°×0.5° grid cells to identify (sub)alpine hotspots. Hotspots whose surface area in the (sub)alpine zone was covered by nature reserves maximally by 10% were defined as conservation gaps. Results: A high proportion (80%) of the endemic species of the study area is range-restricted and narrowly distributed. The results of all six indices were highly correlated. Using the top 5%, 10% and 20% richest cells supported by any index, 32, 53 and 98 cells, respectively, were identified as Hotspots. Almost 60% of these Hotspots at all three levels were identified as unprotected (i.e., constituted Conservation Gaps). Generally, only 22%, 18% and 16%, respectively, of the alpine surface area of the identified Hotspots were covered by nature reserves for the top 5%, 10% and 20% richest cells, respectively. Main conclusions: Although the rate of protection in (sub)alpine Hotspots exceeds that of the entire region it is still insufficient, because these Hotspots are much richer in endemic and in range-restricted species, but at the same time are under high pressure of global change. Therefore, the establishment of new nature reserves with high conservation efficiency in (sub)alpine habitats with a particular focus on the identified Hotspots is strongly recommended.

Population-specific responses of an insect herbivore to variation in host-plant quality

Anthropogenic climate change poses a substantial challenge to many organisms, to which they need to respond to avoid fitness reductions. Investigating responses to environmental change is particularly interesting in herbivores, as they are potentially affected by indirect effects mediated via variation in host-plant quality. We here use the herbivorous insect Pieris napi to investigate geographic variation in the response to variation in food quality. We performed a common garden experiment using replicated populations from Germany and Italy, and manipulating host quality by growing host plants at different temperature and water regimes. We found that feeding on plants grown at a higher temperature generally diminished the performance of P. napi, evidenced by a prolonged development time and reduced larval growth rate, body mass, fat content, and phenoloxidase activity. Genotype by environment interactions (G x E) were present in several performance traits, indicating that Italian populations (1) respond more strongly to variation in host-plant quality and (2) are more sensitive to poor food quality than German ones. This may reflect a cost of the rapid lifestyle found in Italian populations. Consequently, German populations may be more resilient against environmental perturbations and may perhaps even benefit from warmer temperatures, while Italian populations will likely suffer from the concomitantly reduced host-plant quality. Our study thus exemplifies how investigating G x E may help to better understand the vulnerability of populations to climate change.

Divergent response and adaptation of specific leaf area to environmental change at different spatio-temporal scales jointly improve plant survival

Specific leaf area (SLA) is one of the most important plant functional traits. It integrates multiple functions and reflects strategies of plants to obtain resources. How plants employ different strategies (e.g., through SLA) to respond to dynamic environmental conditions remains poorly understood.This study aimed to explore the spatial variation in SLA and divergent adaptation of plants by changing SLA through the lens of biogeographic patterns, evolutionary history, and short-term responses. SLA data for 5424 plant species from 76 natural communities in China were systematically measured and integrated with meta-analysis of field experiments (i.e., global warming, drought, and nitrogen addition). The mean value of SLA across all species was 21.8 m2 kg–1, ranging from 0.9 to 110.2 m2 kg–1. SLA differed among different ecosystems, temperature zones, vegetation types, and functional groups. Phylogeny had a weak effect on SLA, but plant species evolved toward higher SLA. Furthermore, plants responded nonlinearly to environmental change by changing SLA. Unexpectedly, radiation was one of the main factors determining the spatial variation in SLA on a large scale. Conversely, short-term manipulative experiments showed that SLA increased with increased resource availability and tended to stabilize with treatment duration. However, different species exhibited varying response patterns. Overall, long-term adaptation of plants to environmental gradients and its short-term response to resource pulses through variation in SLA jointly improve plant adaptability to a changing environment. Overall SLA-environment relationships should be emphasized as a multidimensional strategy for elucidating environmental change in future research.

Interactions between protea plants and their animal mutualists and antagonists are structured more by energetic than morphological trait matching

Traits mediate mutualistic and antagonistic interactions between plants and animals, and should thus be useful for predicting trophic species interactions. Studies to date have examined the importance of morphological trait matching for plant-animal interactions, but have rarely explored the extent to which these interactions are shaped by matching between energetic provisions of plants and energetic demands of animals. We tested whether energetic and/or morphological trait matching shapes interactions between Protea plant species and their interacting animal mutualists and antagonists in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa. We recorded interactions between 22 Protea species, pollinating insects, and vertebrates as well as seed predators (endophagous insect larvae in protea cones) at 21 study sites. To relate species interactions to matching trait pairs, we measured key morphological traits (shape and size of flower heads and seed cones, and mouth part length as well as body length) and quantified the animals' energetic demands (metabolic rate) together with the plants' energetic provisions (nectar sugar amount, seed-to-cone mass ratio). We calculated log ratios of both energetic and morphological traits between animals and plants as predictor variables for the number of observed interactions between Protea species and their animal interaction partners. For both mutualistic and antagonistic interactions, we found significant effects of morphological and energetic trait ratios on the interactions between plants and animals. Trait ratios accounted for 11% to 22% of the variation in species interactions. Consistent with energetic trait matching, we found a hump-shaped relationship between interaction frequency and log ratios of energetic traits of animals and plants, indicating that interactions were most frequent at intermediate log ratios between energetic demand and provision. Effects of morphological trait ratios on interactions were statistically supported in most cases but were variable in the magnitude and shape of the predicted relationships. Across animal taxa and interaction types, energetic traits had more consistent effects on interactions between plants and animals than morphological traits. This suggests that energy can function as an important interaction currency and facilitate the understanding and prediction of trophic species interactions.