179 research outputs found
The Global Spectrum of Plant Form and Function: Enhanced Species-Level Trait Dataset
[Abstract] Here we provide the âGlobal Spectrum of Plant Form and Function Datasetâ, containing species mean values for six vascular plant traits. Together, these traits âplant height, stem specific density, leaf area, leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen content per dry mass, and diaspore (seed or spore) mass â define the primary axes of variation in plant form and function. The dataset is based on ca. 1 million trait records received via the TRY database (representing ca. 2,500 original publications) and additional unpublished data. It provides 92,159 species mean values for the six traits, covering 46,047 species. The data are complemented by higher-level taxonomic classification and six categorical traits (woodiness, growth form, succulence, adaptation to terrestrial or aquatic habitats, nutrition type and leaf type). Data quality management is based on a probabilistic approach combined with comprehensive validation against expert knowledge and external information. Intense data acquisition and thorough quality control produced the largest and, to our knowledge, most accurate compilation of empirically observed vascular plant species mean traits to date.The study has been supported by the TRY initiative on plant traits (https://www.try-db.org). TRY is an initiative of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, bioDISCOVERY/Future Earth (ICSU), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig and NĂșcleo DiverSus (CONICET- Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba, Argentina). The Global Spectrum of Plant Form and Function study has been supported by the European BACI project (Towards a Biosphere Atmosphere change Index, EU grant ID 640176), and grants to SD by FONCyT, CONICET, Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba, the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, and The Newton Fund (NERC UK â CONICET ARG). VO thanks RSF (#19-14-00038p). Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEA
Amino acid uptake among wide-ranging moss species may contribute to their strong position in higher-latitude ecosystems.
Plants that can take up amino acids directly from the soil solution may have a competitive advantage in ecosystems where inorganic nitrogen sources are scarce. We hypothesized that diverse mosses in cold, N-stressed ecosystems share this ability. We experimentally tested 11 sub-arctic Swedish moss species of wide-ranging taxa and growth form for their ability to take up double labelled
Seed dimorphism nutrients and salinity differentially affect seed traits of the desert halophyte Suaeda aralocaspica via multiple maternal effects.
Background: Maternal effects may influence a range of seed traits simultaneously and are likely to be context-dependent. Disentangling the interactions of plant phenotype and growth environment on various seed traits is important for understanding regeneration and establishment of species in natural environments. Here, we used the seed-dimorphic plant Suaeda aralocaspica to test the hypothesis that seed traits are regulated by multiple maternal effects.Results: Plants grown from brown seeds had a higher brown:black seed ratio than plants from black seeds, and germination percentage of brown seeds was higher than that of black seeds under all conditions tested. However, the coefficient of variation (CV) for size of black seeds was higher than that of brown seeds. Seeds had the smallest CV at low nutrient and high salinity for plants from brown seeds and at low nutrient and low salinity for plants from black seeds. Low levels of nutrients increased size and germinability of black seeds but did not change the seed morph ratio or size and germinability of brown seeds. High levels of salinity decreased seed size but did not change the seed morph ratio. Seeds from high-salinity maternal plants had a higher germination percentage regardless of level of germination salinity.Conclusions: Our study supports the multiple maternal effects hypothesis. Seed dimorphism, nutrient and salinity interacted in determining a range of seed traits of S. aralocaspica via bet-hedging and anticipatory maternal effects. This study highlights the importance of examining different maternal factors and various offspring traits in studies that estimate maternal effects on regeneration. © 2012 Wang et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd
Plant-driven variation in decomposition rates improves projections of global litter stock distribution.
Plant litter stocks are critical, regionally for their role in fueling fire
regimes and controlling soil fertility, and globally through their feedback
to atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> and climate. Here we employ two global databases
linking plant functional types to decomposition rates of wood and leaf
litter (Cornwell et al., 2008; Weedon et al., 2009) to improve future
projections of climate and carbon cycle using an intermediate complexity
Earth System model. Implementing separate wood and leaf litter
decomposabilities and their temperature sensitivities for a range of plant
functional types yielded a more realistic distribution of litter stocks in
all present biomes with the exception of boreal forests and projects a
strong increase in global litter stocks by 35 Gt C and a concomitant small
decrease in atmospheric CO<sub>2</sub> by 3 ppm by the end of this century.
Despite a relatively strong increase in litter stocks, the modified
parameterization results in less elevated wildfire emissions because of a
litter redistribution towards more humid regions
The plant traits that drive ecosystems: Evidence from three continents.
Question: A set of easilyâmeasured (âsoftâ) plant traits has been identified as potentially useful predictors of ecosystem functioning in previous studies. Here we aimed to discover whether the screening techniques remain operational in widely contrasted circumstances, to test for the existence of axes of variation in the particular sets of traits, and to test for their links with âharderâ traits of proven importance to ecosystem functioning.
Location: centralâwestern Argentina, central England, northern upland Iran, and northâeastern Spain.
Recurrent patterns of ecological specialization: Through ordination of a matrix of 640 vascular plant taxa by 12 standardized traits, we detected similar patterns of specialization in the four floras. The first PCA axis was identified as an axis of resource capture, usage and release. PCA axis 2 appeared to be a sizeârelated axis. Individual PCA for each country showed that the same traits remained valuable as predictors of resource capture and utilization in all of them, despite their major differences in climate, biogeography and landâuse. The results were not significantly driven by particular taxa: the main traits determining PCA axis 1 were very similar in eudicotyledons and monocotyledons and Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Poaceae.
Links between recurrent suites of âsoftâ traits and âhardâ traits: The validity of PCA axis 1 as a key predictor of resource capture and utilization was tested by comparisons between this axis and values of more rigorously established predictors (âhardâ traits) for the floras of Argentina and England. PCA axis 1 was correlated with variation in relative growth rate, leaf nitrogen content, and litter decomposition rate. It also coincided with palatability to model generalist herbivores. Therefore, location on PCA axis 1 can be linked to major ecosystem processes in those habitats where the plants are dominant.
Conclusion: We confirm the existence at the global scale of a major axis of evolutionary specialization, previously recognised in several local floras. This axis reflects a fundamental tradeâoff between rapid acquisition of resources and conservation of resources within wellâprotected tissues. These major trends of specialization were maintained across different environmental situations (including differences in the proximate causes of low productivity, i.e. drought or mineral nutrient deficiency). The trends were also consistent across floras and major phylogenetic groups, and were linked with traits directly relevant to ecosystem processes.Fil: DĂaz, Sandra Myrna. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Hodgson, J.G.. The University. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences. Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology; Reino UnidoFil: Thompson, K.. The University. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences. Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology; Reino UnidoFil: Cabido, Marcelo Ruben. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Cornelissen, Johannes H. C.. Free University. Faculty Earth and Life Sciences. Department of Systems Ecology; PaĂses BajosFil: Funes, Guillermo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: PĂ©rez Harguindeguy, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Vendramini, Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Falczuk, Valeria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Zak, Marcelo RomĂĄn. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - CĂłrdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal. Universidad Nacional de CĂłrdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas FĂsicas y Naturales. Instituto Multidisciplinario de BiologĂa Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Khoshnevi, M.. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands; IrĂĄnFil: PĂ©rez RontomĂ©, M. C.. Instituto Pirenaico de EcologĂa; EspañaFil: Shirvani, F. A.. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands; IrĂĄnFil: Yazdani, S.. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands; IrĂĄnFil: Abbas Azimi, R. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands; IrĂĄnFil: Bogaard, A. The University. Department of Archaeology and Prehistory; Reino UnidoFil: Boustani, S.. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands; IrĂĄnFil: Charles, M.. The University. Department of Archaeology and Prehistory; Reino UnidoFil: Dehghan, M.. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands; IrĂĄnFil: de Torres Espuny, L.. Instituto Pirenaico de EcologĂa; EspañaFil: Guerrero Campo, J.. Instituto Pirenaico de EcologĂa; EspañaFil: Hynd, A.. The University. Department of Archaeology and Prehistory; Reino UnidoFil: Jones, G.. The University. Department of Archaeology and Prehistory; Reino UnidoFil: Kowsary, E.. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands; IrĂĄn. Instituto Pirenaico de EcologĂa; EspañaFil: Kazemi Saeed, F.. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands; IrĂĄnFil: Maestro MartĂnez, M.. Instituto Pirenaico de EcologĂa; EspañaFil: Romo Diez, A.. Instituto Botanico de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Shaw, S.. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands; IrĂĄn. The University. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences; Reino UnidoFil: Siavash, B.. Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands; IrĂĄnFil: Villar Salvador, P.. Instituto Pirenaico de EcologĂa; Españ
Climatic and soil factors explain the two-dimensional spectrum of global plant trait variation
Plant functional traits can predict community assembly and ecosystem functioning and are thus widely used in global models of vegetation dynamics and landâclimate feedbacks. Still, we lack a global understanding of how land and climate affect plant traits. A previous global analysis of six traits observed two main axes of variation: (1) size variation at the organ and plant level and (2) leaf economics balancing leaf persistence against plant growth potential. The orthogonality of these two axes suggests they are differently influenced by environmental drivers. We find that these axes persist in a global dataset of 17 traits across more than 20,000 species. We find a dominant joint effect of climate and soil on trait variation. Additional independent climate effects are also observed across most traits, whereas independent soil effects are almost exclusively observed for economics traits. Variation in size traits correlates well with a latitudinal gradient related to water or energy limitation. In contrast, variation in economics traits is better explained by interactions of climate with soil fertility. These findings have the potential to improve our understanding of biodiversity patterns and our predictions of climate change impacts on biogeochemical cycles
Climatic and soil factors explain the two-dimensional spectrum of global plant trait variation
Plant functional traits can predict community assembly and ecosystem functioning and are thus widely used in global models of vegetation dynamics and landâclimate feedbacks. Still, we lack a global understanding of how land and climate affect plant traits. A previous global analysis of six traits observed two main axes of variation: (1) size variation at the organ and plant level and (2) leaf economics balancing leaf persistence against plant growth potential. The orthogonality of these two axes suggests they are differently influenced by environmental drivers. We find that these axes persist in a global dataset of 17 traits across more than 20,000 species. We find a dominant joint effect of climate and soil on trait variation. Additional independent climate effects are also observed across most traits, whereas independent soil effects are almost exclusively observed for economics traits. Variation in size traits correlates well with a latitudinal gradient related to water or energy limitation. In contrast, varia- tion in economics traits is better explained by interactions of climate with soil fertility. These findings have the potential to improve our understanding of biodiversity patterns and our predictions of climate change impacts on biogeochemical cycles.Environmental Biolog
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