Leaf functional traits and pathogens: Linking coffee leaf rust with intraspecific trait variation in diversified agroecosystems.

ABSTRACT: Research has demonstrated that intraspecific functional trait variation underpins plant responses to environmental variability. However, few studies have evaluated how trait variation shifts in response to plant pathogens, even though pathogens are a major driver of plant demography and diversity, and despite evidence of plants expressing distinct strategies in response to pathogen pressures. Understanding trait-pathogen relationships can provide a more realistic understanding of global patterns of functional trait variation. We examined leaf intraspecific trait variability (ITV) in response to foliar disease severity, using Coffea arabica cv. Caturra as a model species. We quantified coffee leaf rust (CLR) severity-a fungal disease prominent in coffee systems-and measured key coffee leaf

SUBMITTER: Gagliardi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10101423 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature