Water-limited environments affect the association between functional diversity and forest productivity.

ABSTRACT: The link between biodiversity and ecosystem function can depend on environmental conditions. This contingency can impede our ability to predict how biodiversity-ecosystem function (BEF) relationships will respond to future environmental change, causing a clear need to explore the processes underlying shifts in BEF relationships across large spatial scales and broad environmental gradients. We compiled a dataset on five functional traits (maximum height, wood density, specific leaf area [SLA], seed size, and xylem vulnerability to embolism [P₅₀]), covering 78%-90% of the tree species in the National Forest Inventory from Italy, to test (i) how a water limitation gradient shapes the functional composition and diversity of forests, (ii) how functional composition and diversity of t

SUBMITTER: Lammerant R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10408253 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature