Leaf-level coordination principles propagate to the ecosystem scale.

ABSTRACT: Fundamental axes of variation in plant traits result from trade-offs between costs and benefits of resource-use strategies at the leaf scale. However, it is unclear whether similar trade-offs propagate to the ecosystem level. Here, we test whether trait correlation patterns predicted by three well-known leaf- and plant-level coordination theories - the leaf economics spectrum, the global spectrum of plant form and function, and the least-cost hypothesis - are also observed between community mean traits and ecosystem processes. We combined ecosystem functional properties from FLUXNET sites, vegetation properties, and community mean plant traits into three corresponding principal component analyses. We find that the leaf economics spectrum (90 sites), the global spectrum of plant form and fu

SUBMITTER: Gomarasca U 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10319885 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature