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      Inherent variation of functional traits in winter and summer leaves of Mediterranean seasonal dimorphic species: evidence of a ‘within leaf cohort’ spectrum

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          Abstract

          The covariation pattern among leaf functional traits involved in resource acquisition has been successfully provided by the leaf economic spectrum (LES). Nevertheless, some aspects such as how the leaf trait variation sources affect LES predictions are still little investigated. Accordingly, the aim of this paper was to test whether leaf trait variations within different leaf cohorts could alter LES. Improving this knowledge can extend the potential of trait-based approaches in simulating future climate effects on ecosystems. A database on leaf morphological and physiological traits from different leaf cohorts of Cistus spp. was built by collecting data from literature. These species are seasonal dimorphic shrubs with two well-defined leaf cohorts during a year: summer leaves (SL) and winter leaves (WL). Traits included: leaf mass area (LMA), leaf thickness (LT), leaf tissue density (LTD), net photosynthetic rate on area (A a) and mass (A m) base, nitrogen content on area (N a) and mass (N m) base. The obtained patterns were analysed by standardized major axis regression and then compared with the global spectrum of evergreens and deciduous species. Climatic variable effect on leaf traits was also tested. Winter leaves and SL showed a great inherent variability for all the considered traits. Nevertheless, some relationships differed in terms of slopes or intercepts between SL and WL and between leaf cohorts and the global spectrum of evergreens and deciduous. Moreover, climatic variables differently affected leaf traits in SL and WL. The results show the existence of a ‘within leaf cohort’ spectrum, providing the first evidence on the role of leaf cohorts as LES source of variation. In fact, WL showed a high return strategy as they tended to maximize, in a short time, resource acquisition with a lower dry mass investment, while SL were characterized by a low return strategy.

          Abstract

          Leaf morphological, physiological and biochemical traits tend to vary in a coordinated manner as described by the leaf economics spectrum (LES). However, LES is scale-dependent. In this paper we demonstrate that different leaf cohorts of evergreen seasonal dimorphic species display significant differences from the LES. Moreover, we show that species characterized by an extended leaf production during a growing season, such as evergreens, can shift from a more competitive to a more stress-tolerant strategy during a single growing season. This provides a new framework to better investigate evergreens’ future responses to the major drivers of global climate change.

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          Plant Ecological Strategies: Some Leading Dimensions of Variation Between Species

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            From tropics to tundra: global convergence in plant functioning.

            Despite striking differences in climate, soils, and evolutionary history among diverse biomes ranging from tropical and temperate forests to alpine tundra and desert, we found similar interspecific relationships among leaf structure and function and plant growth in all biomes. Our results thus demonstrate convergent evolution and global generality in plant functioning, despite the enormous diversity of plant species and biomes. For 280 plant species from two global data sets, we found that potential carbon gain (photosynthesis) and carbon loss (respiration) increase in similar proportion with decreasing leaf life-span, increasing leaf nitrogen concentration, and increasing leaf surface area-to-mass ratio. Productivity of individual plants and of leaves in vegetation canopies also changes in constant proportion to leaf life-span and surface area-to-mass ratio. These global plant functional relationships have significant implications for global scale modeling of vegetation-atmosphere CO2 exchange.
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              Integrated Screening Validates Primary Axes of Specialisation in Plants

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                AoB Plants
                AoB Plants
                aobpla
                AoB Plants
                Oxford University Press (US )
                2041-2851
                June 2018
                24 April 2018
                24 April 2018
                : 10
                : 3
                : ply027
                Affiliations
                Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
                Author notes
                Corresponding author’s e-mail address: giacomo.puglielli@ 123456gmail.com

                Present address: Chair of Biodiversity and Nature Tourism, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 5, 51014 Tartu, Estonia

                Article
                ply027
                10.1093/aobpla/ply027
                5965093
                29868168
                a5b27f3b-9fbf-4314-8c58-e0c815534741
                © The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.

                This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

                History
                : 06 September 2017
                : 19 April 2018
                Page count
                Pages: 11
                Categories
                Research Article

                Plant science & Botany
                cistus,deciduous,evergreen,leaf cohorts,leaf economic spectrum,lma,leaf nitrogen,leaf payback time

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