A Second Dimension to the Leaf Economics Spectrum Predicts Edaphic Habitat Association in a Tropical Forest
A Second Dimension to the Leaf Economics Spectrum Predicts Edaphic Habitat Association in a Tropical Forest
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0013163
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发表时间：
2010-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Thomas, Sean C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Baltzer, Jennifer L.;Thomas, Sean C.
背景：热带森林树木之间经常存在强烈的生境关联模式，有助于维持生物多样性。土壤分化叶功能性状之间的权衡的关系是不太清楚，但可以提供深入了解的机制，在这些物种丰富的assemblages.Methodology/主要研究结果：我们量化的叶经济谱（LES）为16个树种在婆罗洲森林的特点是高度突出的栖息地专业化。我们的研究结果表明，光限、低地热带森林中性状变异的主轴与LES相同，并且与耐荫连续体相对应。土壤变异沿着这条性状变异主轴没有分离。然而，第二个正交轴主要由叶面磷浓度决定，导致森林中占据不同土壤类型的物种近乎完美的分离。我们认为，叶性状变异的第二个轴代表了与叶磷和与地质基质密切相关的潜在其他营养物质有关的“叶土壤生境谱”，并且通常可能发生在以强土壤资源梯度为特征的植物群落中。
Background: Strong patterns of habitat association are frequent among tropical forest trees and contribute to the maintenance of biodiversity. The relation of edaphic differentiation to tradeoffs among leaf functional traits is less clear, but may provide insights into mechanisms of habitat partitioning in these species rich assemblages.Methodology/Principal Findings: We quantify the leaf economics spectrum (LES) for 16 tree species within a Bornean forest characterized by highly pronounced habitat specialization. Our findings suggest that the primary axis of trait variation in light-limited, lowland tropical forests was identical to the LES and corresponds with the shade tolerance continuum. There was no separation with respect to edaphic variation along this primary axis of trait variation. However, a second orthogonal axis determined largely by foliar P concentrations resulted in a near-perfect separation of species occupying distinct soil types within the forest.Conclusions/Significance: We suggest that this second axis of leaf trait variation represents a "leaf edaphic habitat spectrum'' related to foliar P and potentially other nutrients closely linked to geological substrate, and may generally occur in plant communities characterized by strong edaphic resource gradients.