Summary• Specific leaf area (leaf area to dry mass ratio), leaf dry matter content (leaf dry mass to saturated fresh mass ratio) and leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC) have been proposed as indicators of plant resource use in data bases of plant functional traits.• We tested whether species ranking based on these traits was repeatable by studying spatio-temporal variations in specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content of water-saturated leaves (SLA SAT and LDMC SAT ), as well as in LNC, for 57 herbaceous and woody species (or subsets thereof) growing under the Mediterranean climate of southern France.• Interseason and intersite variations were more pronounced than interannual variations, but species ranking for a given trait remained mostly consistent in space and time. Classifications based on LDMC SAT were generally more repeatable across years and sites, whereas those based on SLA SAT were more stable over seasons. LNC usually gave the least repeatable classifications.• Species rankings were not completely similar for the three traits. Discussion of reproducibility, ease of trait measurement, as well as trait-function relationships led us to propose that measurements of the leaf traits, SLA SAT and/or LDMC SAT , were the most suitable in large screening programmes.

Summary• Variations in leaf life span (LLS), construction cost (CC) and dynamics patterns (periods of leaf production, t p , and loss, t L , time lag separating the end of leaf production and the beginning of leaf loss, t) were investigated in species differing in successional status and life forms. We tested how those traits varied along the succession and how these were interrelated. A new graphical framework is proposed to assess the influence of dynamics traits on LLS.• The study was conducted on 42 species of contrasted life forms, typical of various stages of secondary succession, under the Mediterranean climate of southern France.• LLS increased along the succession, t p was shorter and t longer in species from the later stage, without significant change in CC or t L . Herbaceous species, mostly of early successional status, had short-lived, low-CC leaves, produced and lost continuously. Woody species, of later successional status, had long-lived leaves, with slightly higher CC than herbs. LLS and CC or payback time were weakly correlated.• Variations in LLS and leaf dynamics along the succession were related to changes in plant stature and growth potential of species, captured by leaf traits. Whether this is the consequence of a decrease in frequency of disturbance or of a change in the level of resources remains an open question.

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