Grass leaf structural and stomatal trait responses to climate gradients assessed over the 20th century and across the Great Plains, USA.

ABSTRACT: Abstract. Using herbarium specimens spanning 133 years and field-collected measurements, we assessed intraspecific trait (leaf structural and stomatal) variability from grass species in the Great Plains of North America. We focused on two widespread, closely related grasses from the tribe Paniceae: Dichanthelium oligosanthes subsp. scribnerianum (C₃) and Panicum virgatum (C₄). Thirty-one specimens per taxon were sampled from local herbaria from the years 1887 to 2013 to assess trait responses across time to changes in atmospheric [CO₂] and growing season precipitation and temperature. In 2021 and 2022, the species were measured from eight grasslands sites to explore how traits vary spatially across natural continental precipitati

SUBMITTER: Donnelly RC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11489733 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature