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Decoupled leaf and stem economics in rain forest trees
Author(s) -
Baraloto Christopher,
Timothy Paine C. E.,
Poorter Lourens,
Beauchene Jacques,
Bonal Damien,
Domenach AnneMarie,
Hérault Bruno,
Patiño Sandra,
Roggy JeanChristophe,
Chave Jerome
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2010.01517.x
Subject(s) - biology , vegetation (pathology) , ecology , rainforest , bark (sound) , multivariate statistics , botany , mathematics , statistics , medicine , pathology
Ecology Letters (2010) 13: 1338–1347 Abstract Cross‐species analyses of plant functional traits have shed light on factors contributing to differences in performance and distribution, but to date most studies have focused on either leaves or stems. We extend these tissue‐specific analyses of functional strategy towards a whole‐plant approach by integrating data on functional traits for 13 448 leaves and wood tissues from 4672 trees representing 668 species of Neotropical trees. Strong correlations amongst traits previously defined as the leaf economics spectrum reflect a tradeoff between investments in productive leaves with rapid turnover vs. costly physical leaf structure with a long revenue stream. A second axis of variation, the ‘stem economics spectrum’, defines a similar tradeoff at the stem level: dense wood vs. high wood water content and thick bark. Most importantly, these two axes are orthogonal, suggesting that tradeoffs operate independently at the leaf and at the stem levels. By simplifying the multivariate ecological strategies of tropical trees into positions along these two spectra, our results provide a basis to improve global vegetation models predicting responses of tropical forests to global change.