Functional Traits Explain Variation in Chaparral Shrub Sensitivity to Altered Water and Nutrient Availability.

ABSTRACT: Worldwide drylands are threatened by changes in resource availability associated with global environmental change. Functional traits may help predict which species will be most responsive to these alterations in nutrient and water availability. Current functional trait work focuses on tissue construction and nutrient concentrations, but plant performance in low resource environments also may be strongly influenced by traits related to nutrient budgets and allocation. Our overall objective was to compare trait responses in a suite of serpentine and nonserpentine congener pairs from the California chaparral, a biodiverse region facing nutrient deposition and future changes in precipitation. In a common garden greenhouse environment, we grew small plants of Arctostaphylos manzanita, A. vis

SUBMITTER: Nielsen RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6482203 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature