Journal Article

Spatial patterns and climate relationships of major plant traits in the New World differ between woody and herbaceous species

Tószögyová, Anna, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC) ; Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, University of Nijmegen ; University of Nijmegen, Morueta-Holme, Naia, Laboratoire d'hydrodynamique (LadHyX) ; École polytechnique (X) ; Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Aarhus University [Aarhus], Bahn, Michael, Kattge, Jens, Šímová, Irena, Wiser, Susan, Boyle, Brad, Blonder, Benjamin, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology [Tucson] (EEB) ; University of Arizona, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) ; Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 (UPVM)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre international d'études supérieures en sciences agronomiques (Montpellier SupAgro)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) ; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de

2018

Overview

Aim: Despite several recent efforts to map plant traits and to identify their climatic drivers, there are still major gaps. Global trait patterns for major functional groups, in particular, the differences between woody and herbaceous plants, have yet to be identified. Here, we take advantage of big data efforts to compile plant species occurrence and trait data to analyse the spatial patterns of assemblage means and variances of key plant traits. We tested whether these patterns and their climatic drivers are similar for woody and herbaceous plants. Location: New World (North and South America). Methods: Using the largest currently available database of plant occurrences, we provide maps of 200 × 200 km grid-cell trait means and variances for both woody and herbaceous species and identify environmental drivers related to these patterns. We focus on six plant traits: maximum plant height, specific leaf area, seed mass, wood density, leaf nitrogen concentration and leaf phosphorus concentration. Results: For woody assemblages, we found a strong climate signal for both means and variances of most of the studied traits, consistent with strong environmental filtering. In contrast, for herbaceous assemblages, spatial patterns of trait means and variances were more variable, the climate signal on trait means was often different and weaker. Main conclusion: Trait variations for woody versus herbaceous assemblages appear to reflect alternative strategies and differing environmental constraints. Given that most large-scale trait studies are based on woody species, the strikingly different biogeographic patterns of herbaceous traits suggest that a more synthetic framework is needed that addresses how suites of traits within and across broad functional groups respond to climate.

• Publisher: Wiley,CCSD,John Wiley & Sons Ltd,Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subject: BIEN database / Biodiversity and Ecology / biogeography / climatic factors / Data management / Data processing / Environmental filtering / Environmental Sciences / Filtration / Flowers & plants / Functional biogeography / Functional groups / Growth form / Habit / herbaceous plants / Herbivores / Leaf area / Leaves / Macroecology / moieties / nitrogen content / Phosphorus / Plant functional traits / Plant functional types / plant height / Plant species / seed weight / South America / Spatial analysis / Spatial data / Species / Trait distributions / TRY database / wood density / woody plants