Within- and across-species responses of plant traits and litter decomposition to elevation across contrasting vegetation types in subarctic tundra.

ABSTRACT: Elevational gradients are increasingly recognized as a valuable tool for understanding how community and ecosystem properties respond to climatic factors, but little is known about how plant traits and their effects on ecosystem processes respond to elevation. We studied the response of plant leaf and litter traits, and litter decomposability across a gradient of elevation, and thus temperature, in subarctic tundra in northern Sweden for each of two contrasting vegetation types, heath and meadow, dominated by dwarf shrubs and herbaceous plants respectively. This was done at each of three levels; across species, within individual species, and the plant community using a community weighted average approach. Several leaf and litter traits shifted with increasing elevation in a manner consiste

SUBMITTER: Sundqvist MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3203947 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature