| Category |
Text Publication |
| Reference Category |
Journals |
| DOI |
10.1111/1365-2745.70220
|
Licence  |
|
| Title (Primary) |
Above- and below-ground trait coordination across 90 angiosperm and gymnosperm tree species in a common garden experiment |
| Author |
Sanaei, A.; Andraczek, K.; Kretz, L.; Schnabel, F.; Richter, R.; Kahl, A.; Nabel, N.; von Sivers, L.; Künne, T.; van Braak, J.L.; Hofmann, R.F.; Hensel, C.S.; Mora, K.; Feilhauer, H.; Wirth, C.; Weigelt, A. |
| Source Titel |
Journal of Ecology |
| Year |
2026 |
| Department |
NSF; iDiv; RS |
| Volume |
114 |
| Issue |
1 |
| Page From |
e70220 |
| Language |
englisch |
| Topic |
T5 Future Landscapes |
| Data and Software links |
https://doi.org/10.25829/idiv.3603-afag37 |
| Supplements |
Supplement 1 |
| Keywords |
acquisitive strategy; collaboration gradient; conservative strategy; fine-root traits; leaf economics spectrum; leaf traits; plant economics spectrum; root economics space |
| Abstract |
- Quantifying the variation in plant traits reveals the
trade-offs involved in plant ecological strategies, which is
fundamental to understanding underlying plant fitness mechanisms. Thus,
the ecological success of plant species in a certain habitat may depend
on the coordinated performance of both leaves and roots. However,
despite the growing interest in trait variation, it is still uncertain
(i) to what extent the leaf economics spectrum (LES) and root economics
space (RES) hold across locally planted tree species and (ii) whether
analogous leaf and fine-root traits are correlated.
- In a research arboretum, we simultaneously measured
key traits in leaves (leaf nitrogen concentration and leaf mass per
area) and fine roots (root diameter, specific root length, root nitrogen
concentration and root tissue density) on 267 individuals belonging to
90 tree species, encompassing both angiosperm and gymnosperm species.
- We find varied plant resource strategies associated
with leaves and fine roots for angiosperms and gymnosperms. Gymnosperms
were characterized by higher leaf mass per area and root diameter but
lower nitrogen tissue in leaves and fine roots, while the opposite was
observed in angiosperms. Our results showed an expected trade-off
between the leaf traits underpinning the LES. We observe a clear RES for
all species and angiosperms, highlighting two orthogonal conservation
and collaboration gradients, but the RES was unclear for gymnosperms.
Our multidimensional trait relationship results did not fully support
alignment between analogous leaf and fine-root traits across all species
and clades; nonetheless, bivariate regression analyses showed
significant positive relationships between nitrogen concentrations in
leaf and fine-root tissues. We further find that the root collaboration
gradient formed an orthogonal axis to leaf and root conservation
gradients.
- Synthesis. Our research highlights the
significance of elucidating the mechanisms behind above-and below-ground
organs. The varying trait coordination across clades indicates
different resource acquisition strategies above- and below-ground,
highlighting the need to consider large-scale phylogenetic relatedness
to better understand plant fitness.
|
Sanaei, A., Andraczek, K., Kretz, L., Schnabel, F., Richter, R., Kahl, A., Nabel, N., von Sivers, L., Künne, T., van Braak, J.L., Hofmann, R.F., Hensel, C.S., Mora, K., Feilhauer, H., Wirth, C., Weigelt, A. (2026):
Above- and below-ground trait coordination across 90 angiosperm and gymnosperm tree species in a common garden experiment
J. Ecol. 114 (1), e70220 10.1111/1365-2745.70220 |
