1. Populations of Metrosideros polymorpha establish across a broad range of precipitation in Hawai‘i – from <400 to >10000 mm per year. To determine whether adjustment of hydraulic and photosynthetic traits could contribute to this success in both high and low rainfall, we sampled populations on the wet and the dry sides of Hawai‘i Island, replicated on two different-aged lava flows at similar ...

Plant leaf litter is an important source of soil chemicals that are essential for the ecosystem and changes in leaf litter chemical traits during decomposition will determine the availability of multiple chemical elements recycling in the ecosystem. However, it is unclear whether the changes in litter chemical traits during decomposition and their similarities across species can be predicted, r...

Although trait analyses have become more important in community ecology, trait-environment correlations have rarely been studied along successional gradients. We asked which environmental variables had the strongest impact on intraspecific and interspecific trait variation in the community and which traits were most responsive to the environment. We established a series of plots in a secondary ...

The hydraulic conductance of the leaf lamina ( K lamina ) substantially constrains whole-plant water transport, but little is known of its association with leaf structure and function. K lamina was measured for sun and shade leaves of six woody temperate species growing in moist soil, and tested for correlation with the prevailing leaf irradiance, and with 22 other leaf traits. K lamina varied ...

1. Given the rapid and reversible impact of the environment on plant ecophysiological traits, it has been speculated that such traits may have low heritabilities, high phenotypic plasticity and experience selection which is highly variable. 2. We estimated heritabilities, phenotypic plasticity and natural selection on five ecophysiological traits (carbon : nitrogen (C : N) ratio, leaf water con...

Correlations between traits may constrain ecological and evolutionary responses to multispecies interactions. Many plants produce defensive compounds in nectar and leaves that could influence interactions with pollinators and herbivores, but the relationship between nectar and leaf defences is entirely unexplored. Correlations between leaf and nectar traits may be mediated by resources and prio...

Knowledge of leaf chemistry, physiology, and life span is essential for global vegetation modeling, but such data are scarce or lacking for some regions, especially in developing countries. Here we use data from 2021 species at 175 sites around the world from the GLOPNET compilation to show that key physiological traits that are difficult to measure (such as photosynthetic capacity) can be pred...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Changes in supplies of resources will modify plant functional traits. However, few experimental studies have addressed the effects of nitrogen and water variations, either singly or in combination, on functional traits. METHODS A 2-year field experiment was conducted to test the effects of nitrogen and water addition on leaf longevity and other functional traits of the two...

Leaf wetting is often considered to have negative effects on plant function, such that wet environments may select for leaves with certain leaf surface, morphological, and architectural traits that reduce leaf wettability. However, there is growing recognition that leaf wetting can have positive effects. We measured variation in two traits, leaf drip tips and leaf water repellency, in a series ...

Trait-based approaches are widely used in community ecology and invasion biology to unravel underlying mechanisms of vegetation dynamics. Although fundamental trade-offs between specific traits and invasibility are well described among terrestrial plants, little is known about their role and function in aquatic plant species. In this study, we examine the functional differences of aquatic alien...