Metabolomic and morphological trait diversity display contrasting patterns in temperate forest tree communities

Abstract

Studies of community assembly often explore the role of niche selection in limiting the diversity of functional traits (underdispersion) or increasing the diversity of functional traits (overdispersion) within local communities. While these patterns have primarily been explored with morphological functional traits related to environmental tolerances and resource acquisition, plant metabolomics may provide an additional functional dimension of community assembly to expand our understanding of how niche selection changes along environmental gradients. Here, we examine how the functional diversity of leaf secondary metabolites and traditional morphological plant traits changes along local environmental gradients in three temperate forest ecosystems across North America. Specifically, we asked whether co‐occurring tree species exhibit local‐scale over‐ or underdispersion of metabolomic and morphological traits, and whether differences in trait dispersion among local communities are associated with environmental gradients of soil resources and topography. Across tree species, we find that most metabolomic traits are not correlated with morphological traits, adding a unique dimension to functional trait space. Within forest plots, metabolomic traits tended to be overdispersed while morphological traits tended to be underdispersed. Additionally, local environmental gradients had site‐specific effects on metabolomic and morphological trait dispersion patterns. Taken together, these results show that different suites of traits can result in contrasting patterns of functional diversity along environmental gradients and suggest that multiple community assembly mechanisms operate simultaneously to structure functional diversity in temperate forest ecosystems.