Global patterns of leaf construction traits and their covariation along climate and soil environmental gradients

Kaixiong Xing; Ülo Niinemets; Zed Rengel; Yusuke Onoda; Jiangzhou Xia; Han Y H Chen; Mingfei Zhao; Wenxuan Han; Hongbo Li

doi:10.1111/nph.17686

Global patterns of leaf construction traits and their covariation along climate and soil environmental gradients

New Phytol. 2021 Nov;232(4):1648-1660. doi: 10.1111/nph.17686. Epub 2021 Sep 8.

Authors

Kaixiong Xing^{1

2}, Ülo Niinemets^{3

4}, Zed Rengel^{5

6}, Yusuke Onoda⁷, Jiangzhou Xia⁸, Han Y H Chen⁹, Mingfei Zhao¹⁰, Wenxuan Han¹¹, Hongbo Li¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China.
² Center for Forest Ecosystem Studies and Qianyanzhou Ecological Station, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
³ Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, Tartu, 51006, Estonia.
⁴ Estonian Academy of Sciences, Kohtu 6, Tallinn, 10130, Estonia.
⁵ Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, UWA School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia.
⁶ Institute for Adriatic Crops and Karst Reclamation, Put Duilova 11, 21000, Split, Croatia.
⁷ Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502, Japan.
⁸ Tianjin Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin, 300387, China.
⁹ Faculty of Natural Resources Management, Lakehead University, 955 Oliver Road, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 5E1, Canada.
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
¹¹ College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.

PMID: 34418102
DOI: 10.1111/nph.17686

Abstract

Leaf functional traits and their covariation underlie plant ecological adaptations along environmental gradients, but there is limited information on the global covariation patterns of key leaf construction traits. To explore how leaf construction traits co-vary across diverse climate and soil environmental conditions, we compiled a global dataset including cell wall mass per unit leaf mass (CW_mass ), leaf carbon (C) and calcium (Ca) concentrations, and specific leaf area (SLA) for 2348 angiosperm species from 340 sites world-wide. Our results demonstrated negative correlations between leaf C and Ca concentrations and between leaf C and SLA across diverse nongraminoid angiosperms. Leaf C concentration increased with increasing mean annual temperature (MAT) and mean annual precipitation (MAP) and with decreasing soil pH and calcium carbonate (CaCO₃ ) concentration, whereas leaf Ca concentration and SLA exhibited the opposite responses to these environmental variables. The covariations of leaf Ca-C and of leaf SLA-C were stronger in habitats with lower MAT and MAP, and/or higher soil CaCO₃ content. This global-scale analysis demonstrates that the leaf C and Ca concentrations and SLA together govern the C and biomass investment strategies in leaves of nongraminoids. We conclude that environmental conditions strongly shape leaf construction traits and their covariation patterns.

Keywords: angiosperms; environmental stress; leaf carbon allocation strategies; leaf cell walls; leaf structural traits; plant functional groups.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Carbon
Climate*
Ecosystem
Plant Leaves
Soil*

Substances

Soil
Carbon