Assessing the generality of global leaf trait relationships

Abstract

Summary• Global-scale quantification of relationships between plant traits gives insight into the evolution of the world's vegetation, and is crucial for parameterizing vegetationclimate models.• A database was compiled, comprising data for hundreds to thousands of species for the core 'leaf economics' traits leaf lifespan, leaf mass per area, photosynthetic capacity, dark respiration, and leaf nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, as well as leaf potassium, photosynthetic N-use efficiency (PNUE), and leaf N : P ratio.• While mean trait values differed between plant functional types, the range found within groups was often larger than differences among them. Future vegetationclimate models could incorporate this knowledge.• The core leaf traits were intercorrelated, both globally and within plant functional types, forming a 'leaf economics spectrum'. While these relationships are very general, they are not universal, as significant heterogeneity exists between relationships fitted to individual sites. Much, but not all, heterogeneity can be explained by variation in sample size alone. PNUE can also be considered as part of this trait spectrum, whereas leaf K and N : P ratios are only loosely related.

The successional status of tropical rainforest tree species is associated with differences in leaf carbon isotope discrimination and functional traits

“…Previous studies on trade-offs among leaf traits concentrated mainly on traits related to carbon assimilation, leaf structure or chemical concentrations [45,46,56,57]. Leaf carbon traits of tropical rainforest seedlings studied here were in agreement with general trade-offs since carbon assimilation increases with increasing N and SLA, and decreases with increasing C and LD (Tab.…”

Effects of nitrogen and phosphorus supply on growth and physiological traits of two Larix species

“…Menge and Field (2007) found that N fertilization led to P limitation in six out of eleven previously N-limited ecosystems, mainly because N input could accelerate P cycling rates across a wide variety of terrestrial ecosystems (Marklein and Houlton, 2012). Nevertheless, most investigations on P fertilization have been conducted in N-rich Yavitt et al, 2011;Santiago et al, 2012;Mori et al, 2013) or P-limited conditions (De Groot et al, 2003;Wright et al, 2005), while only few studies have investigated how P fertilization influences productivity in N-limited ecosystems (Blevins et al, 2006;Carlson et al, 2014;Gotore et al, 2014).…”

Photosynthetic physiology of eucalypts along a sub-continental rainfall gradient in northern Australia

“…Thus, V cmax provides a measure of photosynthetic capacity that can be readily incorporated into canopy process models. Maximum leaf photosynthesis rates (A max ) are generally related to leaf N concentrations (Field and Mooney, 1986), although the relationship between the two can vary among taxa and among regions (Wright et al, 2005). Establishing global relationships between photosynthetic parameters like V cmax and A max and more easily measured leaf traits like N concentration and leaf mass per area (LMA) offers a promising avenue toward parameterization of global biogeochemical models (Reich et al, 2007).…”