Distinct Responses of Leaf Traits to Environment and Phylogeny Between Herbaceous and Woody Angiosperm Species in China.

ABSTRACT: Leaf traits play key roles in plant resource acquisition and ecosystem processes; however, whether the effects of environment and phylogeny on leaf traits differ between herbaceous and woody species remains unclear. To address this, in this study, we collected data for five key leaf traits from 1,819 angiosperm species across 530 sites in China. The leaf traits included specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf area, leaf N concentration, and leaf P concentration, all of which are closely related to trade-offs between resource uptake and leaf construction. We quantified the relative contributions of environment variables and phylogeny to leaf trait variation for all species, as well as for herbaceous and woody species separately. We found that environmental factors explained most o

SUBMITTER: An N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8688848 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature