Abstract
To explore the latitudinal variation of stomatal traits from species to community level and their linkage with net primary productivity (NPP), we investigated leaf stomatal density (SDL) and stomatal length (SLL) across 760 species from nine forest ecosystems in eastern China, and calculated the community-level SD (SDC) and SL (SLC) through species-specific leaf area index (LAI). Our results showed that latitudinal variation in species-level SDL and SLL was minimal, but community-level SDC and SLC decreased clearly with increasing latitude. The relationship between SD and SL was negative across species and different plant functional types (PFTs), but positive at the community level. Furthermore, community-level SDC correlated positively with forest NPP, and explained 51% of the variation in NPP. These findings indicate that the trade-off by regulating SDL and SLL may be an important strategy for plant individuals to adapt to environmental changes, and temperature acts as the main factor influencing community-level stomatal traits through alteration of species composition. Importantly, our findings provide new insight into the relationship between plant traits and ecosystem function.
Highlights
Area and duration of photosynthetic season[3]
This study is the first to explore the latitudinal variation in stomatal traits at the species and community levels from tropical monsoon rainforest to cold-temperate coniferous forest
Our findings establish a relationship between stomatal traits and the spatial variation in ecosystem NPP, and provide useful biological information for modeling ecosystem carbon and water cycles under global changes
Summary
Area and duration of photosynthetic season[3]. Leaf stomata regulate gas exchange between plants and the atmosphere, and control the balance between water loss and CO2 uptake to some extent[9]. Most of previous studies used short-term control experiments to investigate the responses of stomatal morphological traits to changing environments, such as CO2 concentration[12], light intensity[13], temperature[14], and water status[15,16]. SD is affected by water availability, and moderate water deficits have a positive effect on SD15,16 These observations focus on the responses or plasticity of stomatal traits to controlled stresses at the local scale, but they can’t clarify the variation of stomatal traits at a large scale as a result of long-term adaption to changing environments[19]. Short-term field measurements have suggested that a positive relationship exists between the maximum stomatal conductance (determined by the size and density of stomata) and the photosynthetic capacity[9]. We tested the assumption that stomatal traits at the community level (SDC and SLC) would be closely related to NPP in forests at a large scale
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