Individual‐level leaf trait variation and correlation across biological and spatial scales

Jiang, Feng; Cadotte, Marc W.; Jin, Guangze

doi:10.1002/ece3.7425

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…In our case, the trait alignment with the first PCA axis also reflects the conservative/acquisitive nature of the leaf traits in broadleaved trees. The acquisitive traits SLA, leaf P and the cations aligned closely with the first PCA axis, which is consistent with previous studies showing similar relationships at the species level (Lin et al 2020, Jiang et al 2021. Furthermore, the conservative traits LDMC and leaf C were negatively aligned with the first PCA axis, which is also in agreement with previous studies (Lin et al 2020, Jiang et al 2021.…”

Section: Coordination Of Leaf Traits At the Within-individual Levelsupporting

confidence: 91%

Leaf trait variation within individuals mediates the relationship between tree species richness and productivity

Proß,

Haider,

Auge

et al. 2023

Oikos

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In forest ecosystems, many ecosystem functions such as tree growth are affected by tree species richness. This biodiversity–productivity relationship (BPR) is mediated by leaf traits, which themselves are known to be influenced by tree species richness; at the same time, as the primary organs of light capture, they are an important factor for tree growth. However, how tree growth is influenced by a tree's ability to phenotypically adjust its leaf traits to the within‐individual light gradient has largely been unexplored. Furthermore, it is not known how such impacts of within‐tree leaf trait variation on individual tree growth sums up to productivity at the community scale. In this study we tested how tree species richness, a tree's mean leaf traits, within‐tree leaf trait variation and the light extinction coefficient within a tree crown influence tree growth. We measured these variables in the temperate forest plantation of the Kreinitz biodiversity experiment. We found that the relationship between tree species richness and tree growth is mediated via the leaf trait variation of the individual trees, which in turn was modified by light availability. In particular, trees in monocultures show a higher within‐individual leaf trait variation, which partly compensates for the lack in among‐species leaf trait variation, and thus affects the BPR. It seems that tree richness operates both through increased acquisitive trait values and within‐individual leaf trait variation, two processes that cancelled out each other and resulted in the absence of a significant effect of tree richness on productivity in our study. In conclusion, to understand the BPR, it is important to study the underlying processes and to know which ones reinforce or oppose each other. In particular, our study highlights the importance of including within‐individual leaf trait variation in ecological research as one important moderator in the BPR.

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Section: Coordination Of Leaf Traits At the Within-individual Levelsupporting

confidence: 91%

Leaf trait variation within individuals mediates the relationship between tree species richness and productivity

Proß,

Haider,

Auge

et al. 2023

Oikos

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“…mollissima are scientifically evaluated, they can be assessed on the basis of correlation analysis of these traits, which can intuitively reflect the relationships between them. Correlation analysis is applied to determine the degree of correlation between two or more correlated variables [ 27 ]. In this study, 15 and 16 pairs of fruit phenotypic and quality traits showed extremely significant positive correlations (P<0.01) and significant positive correlations (P<0.05), respectively, and 4 and 15 pairs showed extremely significant negative correlations (P<0.01) and significant negative correlations (P<0.05), respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comprehensive evaluation of fruit quality for premium Wangmo Castanea mollissima plants

Long,

Lv,

Qiu

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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In this study, the fruit phenotype and quality of 32 superior Wangmo Castanea mollissima plants (designated GM1 to GM32) were examined to identify the trait characteristics of different cluster groups and germplasms with excellent comprehensive performance. The goal was to provide a theoretical basis and research foundation for collecting high-quality germplasm resources and breeding superior cultivars of Wangmo C. mollissima. Ten fruit phenotypic traits and 13 quality traits were measured and analyzed in these 32 superior Wangmo C. mollissima plants. Cluster analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to perform a comprehensive evaluation. Extremely significant positive correlations (P<0.01) were observed for 15 pairs of fruit phenotypic and quality traits, and significant positive correlations (P<0.05) were observed for 16 pairs of traits. Highly significant negative correlations (P<0.01) were observed for 4 pairs of fruit phenotypic and quality traits, and significant negative correlations (P<0.05) were observed for 15 pairs. The plants were divided into three groups by cluster analysis: the first group had large fruits and good fruit quality, the second group had small fruits and poor fruit quality, and the third group had medium-sized fruits with a high starch content. Four principal components were extracted from the 23 traits by PCA, contributing 76.23% of the variance. The ten plants with the highest comprehensive quality were GM32, GM31, GM29, GM1, GM8, GM17, GM10, GM30, GM3 and GM28. The results of this study provide a reference for the development and utilization of Wangmo C. mollissima germplasm resources.

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“…By contrast, Niu et al showed that the importance of ITV in plant communities increased with environmental harshness in alpine meadows in Tibet [16]. One study using a large dataset of 10 leaf and petiole traits in temperate forest seedlings found that about 40% of trait variation was explained by intraspecific variation [17]. In conclusion, these findings suggest that using mean values for functional traits ignores actual trait variation and that the effect of intraspecific variation on functional diversity varies among ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

The Influence of Intraspecific Trait Variation on Plant Functional Diversity and Community Assembly Processes in an Arid Desert Region of Northwest China

Jiang,

Zayit,

Sattar

et al. 2023

Forests

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Exploring how functional traits vary along environmental gradients has long been one of the central questions of trait-based community ecology. Variation in functional traits includes both intraspecific trait variation (ITV) and interspecific trait variation (Vinter); however, the effects of ITV on functional diversity and community assembly remain to be explored. In this study, we compared functional diversity among three communities (i.e., riverbank, transition zone, and desert margin communities) at three spatial scales (i.e., 10 m × 10 m, 20 m × 20 m, and 50 m × 50 m) in the desert ecosystem of the Ebinur Lake basin in Xinjiang. We also analyzed the effects of ITV and environmental and spatial factors on functional diversity. Our results showed that incorporating ITV increased measurements of functional richness at the 10 m × 10 m scale in all three communities (p < 0.01). Rao’s quadratic entropy (RaoQ) represents the differences in functional traits between different species. ITV significantly increased RaoQ at the 50 m × 50 m scale in the riverbank and desert margin community, whereas it significantly decreased RaoQ in the transitional zone community. Similarly, ITV significantly increased functional β-diversity at the 10 m × 10 m and 20 m × 20 m scales in the transitional zone community. Spatial factors mainly influenced functional diversity at smaller scales, whereas environmental factors were influential mainly at larger scales. After considering ITV, spatial factors had less of an effect on functional β-diversity, except for the 50 m × 50 m scale in the transitional zone and desert margin community, indicating that ITV can reduce the measured effect of dispersal on functional β-diversity. Considering ITV did not change the interpretation of the main ecological processes affecting functional diversity. However, it did change the extent to which environmental filtering and dispersal effects explained functional diversity.

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Individual‐level leaf trait variation and correlation across biological and spatial scales

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 10 publications

References 57 publications

Leaf trait variation within individuals mediates the relationship between tree species richness and productivity

Leaf trait variation within individuals mediates the relationship between tree species richness and productivity

Comprehensive evaluation of fruit quality for premium Wangmo Castanea mollissima plants

The Influence of Intraspecific Trait Variation on Plant Functional Diversity and Community Assembly Processes in an Arid Desert Region of Northwest China

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