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

Irena Simova; Cyrille Violle; Jens-Christian Svenning; Jens Kattge; Kristine  Engemann; Brody Sandel; Robert K. Peet; Susan K. Wiser; Benjamin Blonder; Brian J. McGill; Brad Boyle; Naia Morueta-Holme; Nathan J. B. Kraft; Peter M. van Bodegom; Alvaro G Gutierrez; Michael Bahn; Wim A.  Ozinga; Anna  Tószögyová; Brian J. Enquist

doi:10.1111/jbi.13171

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

Irena Simova, Cyrille Violle, Jens-Christian Svenning, Jens Kattge, Kristine Engemann, Brody Sandel, Robert K. Peet, Susan K. Wiser, Benjamin Blonder, Brian J. McGill, Brad Boyle, Naia Morueta-Holme, Nathan J. B. Kraft, Peter M. van Bodegom, Alvaro G Gutierrez, Michael Bahn, Wim A. Ozinga, Anna Tószögyová, Brian J. Enquist

38 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

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.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Biogeography
Volume	45
Issue number	4
Pages (from-to)	895-916
Number of pages	12
ISSN	0305-0270
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13171
Publication status	Published - Apr 2018

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Simova, I., Violle, C., Svenning, J-C., Kattge, J., Engemann, K., Sandel, B., Peet, R. K., Wiser, S. K., Blonder, B., McGill, B. J., Boyle, B., Morueta-Holme, N., Kraft, N. J. B., van Bodegom, P. M., Gutierrez, A. G., Bahn, M., Ozinga, W. A., Tószögyová, A., & Enquist, B. J. (2018). Spatial patterns and climate relationships of major plant traits in the New World differ between woody and herbaceous species. Journal of Biogeography, 45(4), 895-916. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13171

Simova, I, Violle, C, Svenning, J-C, Kattge, J, Engemann, K, Sandel, B, Peet, RK, Wiser, SK, Blonder, B, McGill, BJ, Boyle, B, Morueta-Holme, N, Kraft, NJB, van Bodegom, PM, Gutierrez, AG, Bahn, M, Ozinga, WA, Tószögyová, A & Enquist, BJ 2018, 'Spatial patterns and climate relationships of major plant traits in the New World differ between woody and herbaceous species', Journal of Biogeography, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 895-916. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.13171

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

abstract = "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.",

author = "Irena Simova and Cyrille Violle and Jens-Christian Svenning and Jens Kattge and Kristine Engemann and Brody Sandel and Peet, {Robert K.} and Wiser, {Susan K.} and Benjamin Blonder and McGill, {Brian J.} and Brad Boyle and Naia Morueta-Holme and Kraft, {Nathan J. B.} and {van Bodegom}, {Peter M.} and Gutierrez, {Alvaro G} and Michael Bahn and Ozinga, {Wim A.} and Anna T{\'o}sz{\"o}gyov{\'a} and Enquist, {Brian J.}",

year = "2018",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1111/jbi.13171",

language = "English",

volume = "45",

pages = "895--916",

journal = "Journal of Biogeography",

issn = "0305-0270",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Spatial patterns and climate relationships of major plant traits in the New World differ between woody and herbaceous species

AU - Simova, Irena

AU - Violle, Cyrille

AU - Svenning, Jens-Christian

AU - Kattge, Jens

AU - Engemann, Kristine

AU - Sandel, Brody

AU - Peet, Robert K.

AU - Wiser, Susan K.

AU - Blonder, Benjamin

AU - McGill, Brian J.

AU - Boyle, Brad

AU - Morueta-Holme, Naia

AU - Kraft, Nathan J. B.

AU - van Bodegom, Peter M.

AU - Gutierrez, Alvaro G

AU - Bahn, Michael

AU - Ozinga, Wim A.

AU - Tószögyová, Anna

AU - Enquist, Brian J.

PY - 2018/4

Y1 - 2018/4

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

U2 - 10.1111/jbi.13171

DO - 10.1111/jbi.13171

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0305-0270

VL - 45

SP - 895

EP - 916

JO - Journal of Biogeography

JF - Journal of Biogeography

IS - 4

ER -

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

Abstract

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