Leaf economics and hydraulic traits are decoupled in five species-rich tropical-subtropical forests
Leaf economics and hydraulic traits are decoupled in five species-rich tropical-subtropical forests
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DOI：
10.1111/ele.12466
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发表时间：
2015-09-01
期刊：
影响因子：
8.8
通讯作者：
Guo, Dali
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Li, Le;McCormack, M. Luke;Guo, Dali
叶经济和水力性状对叶光合作用至关重要，但这两组性状是否以完全协调的方式变化还是存在独立变异的空间仍有争议。在这里，我们测试了叶经济性状，包括叶氮浓度和叶干质量单位面积，叶水力性状，包括气孔密度和静脉密度在5个热带亚热带森林之间的关系。令人惊讶的是，这两套特征在统计上是脱钩的。这种解耦表明，独立的性状尺寸存在于一片叶子，与叶经济学维度对应的光捕获和组织寿命，和水力尺寸用水和叶温维持。显然，叶经济学和水力性状可以独立变化，从而允许更多可能的植物性状组合。与单一的性状维度相比，多个性状维度可以更好地使物种适应多样的生态位维度，促进多样化的植物策略，促进物种共存。
Leaf economics and hydraulic traits are critical to leaf photosynthesis, yet it is debated whether these two sets of traits vary in a fully coordinated manner or there is room for independent variation. Here, we tested the relationship between leaf economics traits, including leaf nitrogen concentration and leaf dry mass per area, and leaf hydraulic traits including stomatal density and vein density in five tropical-subtropical forests. Surprisingly, these two suites of traits were statistically decoupled. This decoupling suggests that independent trait dimensions exist within a leaf, with leaf economics dimension corresponding to light capture and tissue longevity, and the hydraulic dimension to water-use and leaf temperature maintenance. Clearly, leaf economics and hydraulic traits can vary independently, thus allowing for more possible plant trait combinations. Compared with a single trait dimension, multiple trait dimensions may better enable species adaptations to multifarious niche dimensions, promote diverse plant strategies and facilitate species coexistence.