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The typical seasonally dry forests in Southeast Asia are the mixed deciduous forest (MDF), dry dipterocarp (deciduous) forest (DDF), and dry evergreen forest (DEF). We obtained 21 physiological traits in the top/sunlit leaves of 107, 65 and 51 tree species in MDF, DEF and DDF, respectively. Approximately 70%, 95% and 95% of canopy tree species which consist of MDF, DEF and DDF are sampled, respectively. Light-saturated photosynthetic rates ( A sat ) exhibit a positive correlation with foliar nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) on leaf mass and area bases across tree species. Decreased leaf mass-based P reduces the positive slope of the mass-based N and A sat relationship across species and habitats. The differences in nutrient and water use and leaf habits are well matched to the variation in soil properties among the forest types, highlighting the reliability of this comprehensive database for revealing the mechanism of niche segregation based on edaphic factors.

Many terrestrial plants are C 3 plants that evolved in the Mesozoic Era when atmospheric CO 2 concentrations ([CO 2 ]) were high. Given current conditions, C 3 plants can no longer benefit from high ambient [CO 2 ]. Kaempferia marginata Carey is a unique understory ginger plant in the tropical dry forests of Thailand. The plant has two large flat leaves that spread on the soil surface. We found a large difference in [CO 2 ] between the partly closed space between the soil surface and the leaves (638 µmol mol −1 ) and the atmosphere at 20 cm above ground level (412 µmol mol −1 ). This finding indicates that the plants capture CO 2 efflux from the soil. Almost all of the stomata are located on the abaxial leaf surface. When ambient air [CO 2 ] was experimentally increased from 400 to 600 μmol mol −1 , net photosynthetic rates increased by 45 to 48% under near light-saturated conditions. No significant increase was observed under low light conditions. These data demonstrate that the unique leaf structure enhances carbon gain by trapping soil CO 2 efflux at stomatal sites under relatively high light conditions, suggesting that ambient air [CO 2 ] can serve as an important selective agent for terrestrial C 3 plants.