Articles | Volume 12, issue 18
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-5339-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-12-5339-2015
Research article
 | 
17 Sep 2015
Research article |  | 17 Sep 2015

Responses of leaf traits to climatic gradients: adaptive variation versus compositional shifts

T.-T. Meng, H. Wang, S. P. Harrison, I. C. Prentice, J. Ni, and G. Wang

Related authors

Global biome changes over the last 21 000 years inferred from model–data comparisons
Chenzhi Li, Anne Dallmeyer, Jian Ni, Manuel Chevalier, Matteo Willeit, Andrei A. Andreev, Xianyong Cao, Laura Schild, Birgit Heim, Mareike Wieczorek, and Ulrike Herzschuh
Clim. Past, 21, 1001–1024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1001-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1001-2025, 2025
Short summary
Insights into evapotranspiration partitioning based on hydrological observations using the generalized proportionality hypothesis
Amin Hassan, Iain Colin Prentice, and Xu Liang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-622,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-622, 2025
Short summary
Modern Pollen Dataset of the Tibetan Plateau
Mengna Liao, Kai Li, Yili Jin, Lina Liu, Xianyong Cao, and Jian Ni
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-71,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-71, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
A novel explainable deep learning framework for reconstructing South Asian palaeomonsoons
Kieran M. R. Hunt and Sandy P. Harrison
Clim. Past, 21, 1–26, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1-2025, 2025
Short summary
Eco-evolutionary Modelling of Global Vegetation Dynamics and the Impact of CO2 during the late Quaternary: Insights from Contrasting Periods
Jierong Zhao, Boya Zhou, Sandy P. Harrison, and I. Colin Prentice
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3897,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3897, 2025
Short summary

Related subject area

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function: Terrestrial
The fungal collaboration gradient drives root trait distribution and ecosystem processes in a tropical montane forest
Mateus Dantas de Paula, Tatiana Reichert, Laynara F. Lugli, Erica McGale, Kerstin Pierick, João Paulo Darela-Filho, Liam Langan, Jürgen Homeier, Anja Rammig, and Thomas Hickler
Biogeosciences, 22, 2707–2732, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2707-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2707-2025, 2025
Short summary
Measuring and modeling waterlogging tolerance to predict the future for threatened lowland ash forests
Eric J. Gustafson, Dustin R. Bronson, Marcella A. Windmuller-Campione, Robert A. Slesak, and Deahn M. Donner
Biogeosciences, 22, 2499–2515, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2499-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2499-2025, 2025
Short summary
Reviews and syntheses: Current perspectives on biosphere research 2024–2025 – eight findings from ecology, sociology, and economics
Friedrich J. Bohn, Ana Bastos, Romina Martin, Anja Rammig, Niak Sian Koh, Giles B. Sioen, Bram Buscher, Louise Carver, Fabrice DeClerck, Moritz Drupp, Robert Fletcher, Matthew Forrest, Alexandros Gasparatos, Alex Godoy-Faúndez, Gregor Hagedorn, Martin C. Hänsel, Jessica Hetzer, Thomas Hickler, Cornelia B. Krug, Stasja Koot, Xiuzhen Li, Amy Luers, Shelby Matevich, H. Damon Matthews, Ina C. Meier, Mirco Migliavacca, Awaz Mohamed, Sungmin O, David Obura, Ben Orlove, Rene Orth, Laura Pereira, Markus Reichstein, Lerato Thakholi, Peter H. Verburg, and Yuki Yoshida
Biogeosciences, 22, 2425–2460, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2425-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2425-2025, 2025
Short summary
Role of air–soil temperature in the leaf area index (LAI) course and role of height–diameter at breast height (DBH) in the maximum LAI during foliation of Platanus orientalis L. in an urban–rural greenway system
Melih Öztürk, Turgay Biricik, and Rıdvan Koruyan
Biogeosciences, 22, 2351–2362, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2351-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2351-2025, 2025
Short summary
Ecosystem leaf area, gross primary production, and evapotranspiration responses to wildfire in the Columbia River basin
Mingjie Shi, Nate McDowell, Huilin Huang, Faria Zahura, Lingcheng Li, and Xingyuan Chen
Biogeosciences, 22, 2225–2238, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2225-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-2225-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Ackerly, D. D. and Cornwell, W. K.: A trait based approach to community assembly: partitioning of species trait values into within and among community components, Ecol. Lett., 10, 135–145, 2007.
Albert, C. H., Thuiller, W., Yoccoz, N. G., Soudat, S., Boucher, F., Saccone, P., and Lavorel, S.: Intraspecific functional variability: extent, structure and sources of variation, J. Ecol., 98, 604–623, 2010.
Ali, A. A., Xu, C., Rogers, A., McDowell, N. G., Medlyn, B. E., Fisher, R. A., Wullschleger, S. D., Reich, P. B., Vrugt, J. A., Bauerle, W. L., Santiago, L. S., and Wilson, C. J.: Global scale environmental control of plant photosynthetic capacity, Ecol. Appl., https://doi.org/10.1890/14-2111.1, 2015.
Alton, P. B.: How useful are plant functional types in global simulations of the carbon, water, and energy cycles?, J. Geophys. Res., 116, G01030, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JG001430, 2011.
Barboni, D., Harrison, S. P., Bartlein, P. J., Jalut, G., New, M., Prentice, I. C., Sanchez-Goñi, M. F., Spessa, A., Davis, B. A. S., and Stevenson, A. C.: Landscape-scale relationships between plant traits and climate in the Mediterranean region, J. Veg. Sci., 15, 635–646, 2004.
Download
Short summary
By analysing the quantitative leaf-traits along extensive temperature and moisture gradients with generalized linear models, we found that metabolism-related traits are universally acclimated to environmental conditions, rather than being fixed within plant functional types. The results strongly support a move towards Dynamic Global Vegetation Models in which continuous, adaptive trait variation provides the fundamental mechanism for changes in ecosystem properties along environmental gradients.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint