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54 results for “Leaf Economics”
Comparative transcriptomics of tropical woody plants supports fast and furious strategy along the leaf economics spectrum in lianas
<p>Lianas, climbing woody plants, influence the structure and function of tropical forests. Climbing traits have evolved multiple times, including ancestral groups such as gymnosperms and pteridophytes, but the genetic basis of the liana strategy is largely unknown. Here, we use a comparative transcriptomic approach for 47 tropical plant species, including ten lianas of diverse taxonomic origins, to identify genes that are consistently expressed or downregulated only in lianas. Our comparative analysis of full-length transcripts enabled the identification of a core interactomic network common to lianas. Sets of transcripts identified from our analysis reveal features related to functional traits pertinent to leaf economics spectrum in lianas, including upregulation of genes controlling epidermal cuticular properties, cell wall remodeling, carbon concentrating mechanism, cell cycle progression, DNA repair and a large suit of downregulated transcription factors and enzymes involved in ABA-mediated stress response as well as lignin and suberin synthesis. Altogether, these genes are known to be significant in shaping plant morphologies through responses such as gravitropism, phyllotaxy and shade avoidance.</p>
Comparative transcriptomics of tropical woody plants supports fast and furious strategy along the leaf economics spectrum in lianas
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Relative cover and leaf economic traits for native and non-native plants across five U.S. ecoregions
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Data from: Invertebrate phenology modulates the effect of the leaf economics spectrum on litter decomposition rate across 41 subtropical woody plant species
<ol> <li>Litter quality and decomposers are critical to carbon and nutrient cycling through litter decomposition. However, how relationships between litter quality and invertebrate detritivores change litter mass loss through time is poorly known. Species' initial leaf litter quality, as a legacy of their position on the "leaf economics spectrum" (LES), may determine the invertebrate contribution to litter mass loss. This contribution may change through time, as both population peaks of invertebrate detritivores and litter quality of given species will change through time.</li> <li>Here we introduce invertebrate phenology into a conceptual model of drivers of litter mass loss. We hypothesized that in the early decomposition period, LES can predict litter decomposability with or without a strong invertebrate contribution, i.e., litter with higher nutrient content would decompose faster. But in the later decomposition period, when higher quality litter will already have decomposed too much and lower quality litters have still been less degraded, a strong invertebrate peak would coincide with relatively more consumption of initially lower quality litters; this would lead to a hump-back relationship between leaf litter mass loss and initial LES position in this period.</li> <li>We tested our hypothesis through a one-year field decomposition experiment using leaf litter of 41 woody species in each of two sites in subtropical forest in China; only one of these sites had a strong late peak of leaf litter-feeding moth larvae in the litter layer.</li> <li>LES score of litter species had a positive linear relationship with litter mass loss before the key invertebrate consumer peaks in the litter layer. However, with the invertebrates peaking later into the decomposition process, the invertebrate consumption peaked at initially lower quality litters, which altered the species' decomposability trajectory on the LES, consistent with the hypothesized hump-back relationship between leaf litter mass loss and LES. This phenomenon resulted in a strongly reduced slope of cumulative mass loss on initial LES score across species.</li> <li>Our finding highlights the importance of considering interactions between the timing of detritivore activities and the timing of litter quality for better understanding the relationships between soil animals and ecosystem carbon and nutrient cycling.</li> </ol>
C4 photosynthesis and the economic spectra of leaf and root traits independently influence growth rates in grasses
<p>Photosynthetic pathway is an important cause of growth rate variation between species, such that the enhanced carbon uptake of C<sub>4</sub> species leads to faster growth than their C<sub>3</sub> counterparts. Leaf traits that promote rapid resource acquisition may further enhance the growth capacity of C<sub>4</sub> species. However, how root economic traits interact with leaf traits, and the different growth strategies adopted by plants with C<sub>3</sub> and C<sub>4</sub> photosynthetic pathways is unclear. Plant economic traits could interact with, or act independently of, photosynthetic pathway in influencing growth rate, or C<sub>3</sub> and C<sub>4</sub> species could segregate out along a common growth rate-trait relationship.</p> <p>We measured leaf and root traits on 100+ grass species grown from seeds in a controlled, common environment to compare with relative growth rates (RGR) during the initial phase of rapid growth, controlling for phylogeny and allometric effects.</p> <p>Photosynthetic pathway acts independently to leaf and root functional traits in causing fast growth. Using C<sub>4</sub> photosynthesis, plants can achieve faster growth than their C<sub>3</sub> counterparts (by an average 0.04 g g<sup>-1</sup> day<sup>-1</sup>) for a given suite of functional trait values, with lower investments of leaf and root nitrogen. Leaf and root traits had an additive effect on RGR, with plants achieving fast growth by possessing resource-acquisitive leaf traits (high specific leaf area and low leaf dry matter content) or root traits (high specific root length and area, and low root diameter), but having both leads to an even faster growth rate (by up to 0.06 g g-1 day-1). C<sub>4</sub> photosynthesis can provide a greater relative increase in RGR for plants with a 'slow' ecological strategy than in those with fast growth. However, aboveground and belowground strategies are not coordinated, so that species can have any combination of 'slow' or 'fast' leaf and root traits.</p> <p>Synthesis: C<sub>4</sub> photosynthesis increases growth rate for a given combination of economic traits, and significantly alters plant nitrogen economy in the leaves and roots. However, leaf and root economic traits act independently to further enhance growth. The fast growth of C<sub>4</sub> grasses promotes a competitive advantage under hot, sunny conditions.</p>
Structural defence is coupled with the leaf economic spectrum across saplings of spiny species
<p>Given that the rate of resource capture constrains plant growth and defence, understanding the linkage between the leaf economic spectrum (LES) and defence and how it contributes to growth is central to predicting species performance. In spite of the prevalence of spiny plants in many plant communities, little is known about how the LES relates to defence and growth rate across these species. We grew 42 spiny species, from diverse environments, under common garden conditions for 15 weeks and measured LES (leaf N, SLA and assimilation rate), defence and growth traits. We assessed general relationships between LES and growth rate and tested whether structural defences (spines, leaf fibre and lignin content) and quantitative chemical defences (condensed tannins) are linked to the LES and growth and if different spine types (i.e. leaf spines, stipular spines, prickles and thorns), with distinct anatomical origins, partition out across the LES. We observed two independent trait axes that together explained ~68% of trait variation across species. The first axis showed that structural defences (spines, leaf fibre and lignin content) trade off with leaf productivity along the LES. Axis 2 revealed that condensed tannins is orthogonal and less integrated with the LES-structural defence axis. Bivariate trait analyses disclosed positive covariations between LES traits and sapling growth rate. All structural defence traits were negatively related to sapling growth. Across spine types, species with leaf spines were associated with the conservative end of the LES, characterized by high structural defences and lower leaf productivity relative to other spine types. Our study shows that the LES and structural defences are coupled in spiny species such that constitutive growth – defence strategies range from fast-growing species with low allocation to defences to slow-growing species that invest heavily in structural defences (dominated by leaf spiny species).</p>
Data from: Within-species patterns challenge our understanding of the Leaf Economics Spectrum
The utility of plant functional traits for predictive ecology relies on our ability to interpret trait variation across multiple taxonomic and ecological scales. Using extensive datasets of trait variation within species, across species, and across communities, we analyzed whether and at what scales 'leaf economics spectrum' (LES) traits show predicted trait-trait covariation. We found that most variation in LES traits is often, but not universally, at high taxonomic levels (between families, between genera in a family). However, we found that trait covariation shows distinct taxonomic scale-dependence, with some trait correlations showing opposite signs within versus across species. LES traits responded independently to environmental gradients within species, with few shared environmental responses across traits or across scales. We conclude that, at small taxonomic scales, plasticity may obscure or reverse the broad evolutionary linkages between leaf traits, meaning that variation in LES traits cannot always be interpreted as differences in resource use strategy.
Polyploidy promotes divergent evolution across the leaf economics spectrum and plant edaphic niche in the Dianthus broteri complex
<ol> <li>The evolution of the leaf economics spectrum (LES) is known to be constrained by genetic relatedness but also promoted at small geographic and phylogenetic scales. In those cases, we hypothesised that polyploidy would play a prominent role as an outstanding source of functional divergence and adaptive potential.</li> <li>We registered leaf-level nutrient, water and light economy related traits from the LES as well as edaphic properties in the four cytotypes of the autopolyploid <i>Dianthus broteri</i> complex (2×, 4×, 6× and 12×). We analysed the effect of ploidy level on the integration of the LES network, checked if concerted evolution occurred between LES and soil niche and tested the influence of phylogeny on the variables. Alternative evolutionary models for both sets of traits were compared.</li> <li> <span>We found higher divergence of polyploids (especially 6</span>×<span> and 12</span>×<span>) compared to diploids</span> in the LES and soil niche, but these traits are not coevolving. <span>6</span>×<span> and 12</span>× showed opposite ecological strategies regarding resource use and higher uncoupling of the LES network. Early divergence of traits prevailed in both LES and edaphic niche (supported by better fitted evolutionary models with one optimum per cytotype), but post-polyploidization processes played an important role for the photochemical behaviour.</li> <li> <i>Synthesis.</i><b> </b><span>Our results indicated shifts in ecological strategies across <i>D. broteri</i> cytotypes and suggested a powerful role of polyploidy in overcoming constraints for the evolution of plant functional traits.</span> </li> </ol>
Leaf economics in a three‐dimensional environment: Testing leaf trait responses in vascular epiphytes to land use, climate, and tree zone
<p>1. The study of functional traits offers predictive power for community ecology. Particularly in cases where individual species are difficult to study, known properties of trait spectra, such as the leaf economics spectrum (LES), and trait-environment relationships can provide crucial generalizable information that can contribute to forecasts of distributional shifts in response to the abiotic effects of climate and land use changes.</p> <p>2. Vascular epiphytes have been proposed as indicators of environmental change, but we know little about the ecology of most species. Key functional trait assumptions are based on terrestrial plants; testing these in epiphytes verifies their universality and will inform applying functional traits in predicting epiphyte responses to climate and land use change.</p> <p>3. In this study, we use functional traits from 37 vascular epiphyte species from forests and shade coffee farms at two sites in northern Nicaragua. We compare correlations among traits and intraspecific trait variances with those of terrestrial plants and among epiphyte taxonomic groups. We also test trait responses to environmental differences between sites and land use types, and within zones of the tree.</p> <p>4. We find that epiphyte leaf traits fall toward the slower end of the LES, but with about one-third lower leaf nitrogen per change in specific leaf area (SLA) relative to terrestrial herbaceous plants. Bromeliads show less relationship between these traits than other epiphyte groups and also deviate in other trait interrelationships, suggesting unique leaf construction.</p> <p>5. Trait-environment relationships varied most strongly along vertical gradients within trees, but some traits, including SLA and carbon isotope ratio, also responded to land use and site differences.</p> <p>6. We present evidence that trait relationships established for terrestrial plants appear to translate to epiphytes, but identify some possible caveats. Strong trait response to vertical gradients within trees suggests that within-canopy shifts could provide resilience to climate and land use changes for some epiphyte species.</p>
Data set for: Leaf trait association in relation to herbivore defense, drought resistance, and economics in a tropical invasive plant
<p><strong><span>Premsie</span></strong><span>: </span><span>Exploring how functional traits vary and covary is important to understand plant responses to environmental change. However, we have limited understanding of the ways multiple functional traits vary and covary within invasive species.</span></p> <p><strong><span>Methods</span></strong><span>:</span> <span>We measured 12 leaf traits of an invasive plant <em>Chromolaena odorata</em>, associated with plant or leaf economics, herbivore defense, and drought resistance on 10 introduced populations from Asia and 12 native populations from America, selected across a broad range of climatic conditions, and grown in a common garden</span><span>.</span></p> <p><strong><span>Results</span></strong><span>: </span><span>Species'</span> <span>range and climatic conditions influenced leaf traits, but trait variation across climate space differed between the introduced and native ranges. Traits that confer defense against herbivores and drought resistance were associated with economic strategy, but the patterns differed by range. Plants from introduced populations that were at the fast-return end of the spectrum (high photosynthetic capacity) had high physical defense traits (high trichome density), whereas plants from native populations that were at the fast-return end of the spectrum had high drought escape traits (early leaf senescence and high percentage of withered shoots).</span></p> <p><strong> <span>Conclusions</span></strong><span>:</span> <span>Our results indicate that invasive plants can rapidly adapt to novel environmental conditions. <em>C. odorata</em> showed multiple different functional trait covariation patterns and clines in the native and introduced ranges. Our results emphasize that interaction between multiple traits or functions should be considered when investigating the adaptive evolution of invasive plants.</span></p>
Phenotypic plasticity and the leaf economics spectrum: plasticity is positively associated with specific leaf area
<p>Phenotypic plasticity is a key mechanism by which plants respond to changing or heterogeneous conditions. Efforts to predict phenotypic plasticity across plant species have mainly focused on environmental variability or abiotic conditions, i.e., site characteristics. However, the considerable variation in phenotypic plasticity within sites calls for alternative approaches. Different functional groups are thought to differ in their plasticity levels. Further, traits such as leaf specific area (SLA), leaf area (LA) and maximum photosynthetic rate (Amax) reflect central aspects of plant strategies. Lower values of SLA, LA and Amax are indicative of a resource-conservative strategy, which is thought to be associated with lower phenotypic plasticity. We used meta-analytical data to test whether plant functional group (herbs, woody deciduous and woody evergreens) and SLA, LA and Amax are associated with phenotypic plasticity in four trait types: biomass allocation, plant size, leaf morphology and physiology. We obtained data from 168 plant species and accounted for phylogenetic relationships in all analyses. We found a positive relationship between SLA and phenotypic plasticity in biomass allocation, leaf morphology and physiology, with differences across functional groups. In contrast, there was no evidence of greater plasticity in plant size in species with higher SLA; rather the opposite was true for woody evergreens. Amax and LA showed similar, but less consistent associations with phenotypic plasticity. Our results show the potential of building predictive frameworks for phenotypic plasticity based on easily measured plant functional characteristics. Results also provide insights into plant strategies and suggest the existence of potential compromises: resource-conservative, low-SLA species tend to be more stress-tolerant but may be less able to cope with variable conditions due to their generally lower phenotypic plasticity. Further studies are needed to explore the mechanisms and the potential implications of this association.</p>
Coordination of economics spectra in leaf, stem and root within the genus Artemisia along a large environmental gradient in China
<p>Aim: The plant economics spectrum provides a fundamental framework for understanding functional trait variation along environmental gradients. However, it is unclear whether there is a general whole-plant economics spectrum across organs at the finer taxonomic scale (e.g. within genera), and if there is, which factors affect the trait coordination of the different organs. Here, we examined whether resource economics spectra of different organs (i.e. leaf, stem and root) can be integrated at the whole-plant level within a single genus, and how environment, intraspecific variation and taxonomic scale shape the whole-plant spectrum.</p> <p>Location: China.</p> <p>Time period: 2018.</p> <p>Major taxa studied: Artemisia.</p> <p>Results: Pairwise trait correlations and the trade-off patterns along the resource economic axis were consistent at both organ and whole-plant levels. Environmental gradients did not strongly affect the correlations among leaf, stem and root economics spectra, i.e. the intraspecific variation weakened but did not mask this coordination. Taxonomic scale did not affect the degree of trait coordination as the genus-wide whole-plant economics spectrum also emerged within each of the three subgenera.</p> <p>Main conclusions: Our results support the hypothesis that the coordination of economics spectra across organs forms a whole-plant economics spectrum representing "fast-slow" resource management strategy, which is robust to recent evolution (genotypic variation, even for species within a single genus) and present-day environmental variation. Further studies should elucidate in which circumstances or phylogenetic branches the coordinated pattern found for Artemisia is representative of other widely distributed genera.</p>
Incorporating pressure-volume traits into the leaf economics spectrum
<p>Dataset associated with the article '<em>Incorporating pressure-volume traits into the leaf economics spectrum</em>' (Nadal et al. 2023 [<em>Eco Lett</em>, accepted]). We provide theoretical and empirical evidence for the coordination of the turgor loss point and associated pressure-volume traits (osmotic potential at full turgor, leaf capacitance, leaf elasticity, leaf saturated water content, modulus of elasticity) with photosynthesis (light-saturated net CO<sub>2</sub> assimilation) and leaf mass per area (LMA) and its two components (leaf thickness and density). The complete dataset comprehends a total of 45 data entries from 37 species, including ferns and angiosperms (woody and herbaceous species), most of them measured on the campus of University of the Balearic Islands; this complements the data presented in Nadal et al. (2018 [<em>Eco Lett</em> 21 (9), 1372-1379]). For the 20 species from Nadal et al. (2018), we also provide data regarding their N and C content, leaf anatomy (from optical and TEM images) and cell wall composition.</p>
Coordination of economics spectra in leaf, stem and root within the genus Artemisia along a large environmental gradient in China
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Data from: Community-level trait variation of epiphytic bryophytes supports trade-off aligned with leaf-economic spectrum in vertically stratified tropical montane cloud forest canopies
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Linking leaf economic traits with forage quality across temperate grasslands under ambient and drought conditions
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Data from: Tropical dry forest trees and lianas differ in leaf economic spectrum traits but have overlapping water-use strategies
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Coordination of leaf economics traits within the family of the world’s fastest growing plants (Lemnaceae)
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Data from: Within-species patterns challenge our understanding of the Leaf Economics Spectrum
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Data set for: Leaf trait association in relation to herbivore defense, drought resistance, and economics in a tropical invasive plant
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