Publication Details
Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1111/nph.19250
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Within-individual leaf trait variation increases with phenotypic integration in a subtropical tree diversity experiment
Author Castro Sánchez-Bermejo, P.; Davrinche, A.; Matesanz, S.; Harpole, W.S. ORCID logo ; Haider, S.
Source Titel New Phytologist
Year 2023
Department PHYDIV
Volume 240
Issue 4
Page From 1390
Page To 1404
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Data and Software links https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8243092
Supplements Supplement 1
Keywords leaf functional traits; niche complementarity; phenotypic integration; plant–plant interactions; trait-based ecology; within-individual trait variation
Abstract
  • Covariation of plant functional traits, that is, phenotypic integration, might constrain their variability. This was observed for inter- and intraspecific variation, but there is no evidence of a relationship between phenotypic integration and the functional variation within single plants (within-individual trait variation; WTV), which could be key to understand the extent of WTV in contexts like plant–plant interactions.
  • We studied the relationship between WTV and phenotypic integration in c. 500 trees of 21 species in planted forest patches varying in species richness in subtropical China. Using visible and near-infrared spectroscopy (Vis-NIRS), we measured nine leaf morphological and chemical traits. For each tree, we assessed metrics of single and multitrait variation to assess WTV, and we used plant trait network properties based on trait correlations to quantify phenotypic integration.
  • Against expectations, strong phenotypic integration within a tree led to greater variation across leaves. Not only this was true for single traits, but also the dispersion in a tree's multitrait hypervolume was positively associated with tree's phenotypic integration. Surprisingly, we only detected weak influence of the surrounding tree-species diversity on these relationships.
  • Our study suggests that integrated phenotypes allow the variability of leaf phenotypes within the organism and supports that phenotypic integration prevents maladaptive variation.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=27966
Castro Sánchez-Bermejo, P., Davrinche, A., Matesanz, S., Harpole, W.S., Haider, S. (2023):
Within-individual leaf trait variation increases with phenotypic integration in a subtropical tree diversity experiment
New Phytol. 240 (4), 1390 - 1404 10.1111/nph.19250