Global patterns of the leaf economics spectrum in wetlands

Yingji Pan,William Armstrong,Timothy D Colmer,Ellen Cieraad,Jean Armstrong,Peter M Van Bodegom,Eric J W Visser,Ole Pedersen,Laurentius A C J Voesenek,Beverley R Clarkson

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18354-3

Abstract

The leaf economics spectrum (LES) describes consistent correlations among a variety of leaf traits that reflect a gradient from conservative to acquisitive plant strategies. So far, whether the LES holds in wetland plants at a global scale has been unclear. Using data on 365 wetland species from 151 studies, we find that wetland plants in general show a shift within trait space along the same common slope as observed in non-wetland plants, with lower leaf mass per area, higher leaf nitrogen and phosphorus, faster photosynthetic rates, and shorter leaf life span compared to non-wetland plants. We conclude that wetland plants tend to cluster at the acquisitive end of the LES. The presented global quantifications of the LES in wetland plants enhance our understanding of wetland plant strategies in terms of resources acquisition and allocation, and provide a stepping-stone to developing trait-based approaches for wetland ecology.

Highlights

The leaf economics spectrum (LES) describes consistent correlations among a variety of leaf traits that reflect a gradient from conservative to acquisitive plant strategies
While the wide fertility gradient across different wetland types theoretically provides a natural gradient for the expression of LES from the acquisitive to conservative strategies[13], additional constraints induced by adverse environmental conditions in wetlands compared to non-wetland systems mean that it cannot be taken for granted that LES traits will show similar patterns
We find that wetland plants, in general, tend to cluster at the acquisitive end of the LES compared to non-wetland plants, with lower leaf mass per area, higher leaf nitrogen and phosphorus, faster photosynthetic rates, and shorter leaf life span

Summary

Introduction

The leaf economics spectrum (LES) describes consistent correlations among a variety of leaf traits that reflect a gradient from conservative to acquisitive plant strategies. Along the LES, species with higher leaf mass per area (LMA) generally have a longer leaf life span (LL), but a lower leaf nitrogen content (leaf N, wt/wt), and lower photosynthetic rates, at least on a mass basis (Amass) This conservative strategy usually prevails in less fertile habitats. Species with lower LMA, shorter LL, higher leaf N and photosynthetic rate have a faster return on investment of resources, commonly coinciding with nutrient-rich areas Such trait-trait coordination in LES traits may be caused by underlying physiological and structural trade-offs[4]. Whether the general LES exists in global wetland ecosystems still remains unclear This gap prevails despite the fact that leaf economics traits have been widely measured in wetland plants to study local plant functioning, community structure, growth and competition[7]. Leaf mass per area (LMA, one of the LES traits) seems to be directly involved in flooding tolerance of wetland plants[16], which may lead to deviations within the LES

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