Title
Predicting trait-environment relationships for venation networks along an Andes-Amazon elevation gradient
Date Issued
01 May 2017
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Blonder B.
Patrick Bentley L.
Shenkin A.
Chambi Porroa P.O.
Violle C.
Fyllas N.M.
Goldsmith G.R.
Martin R.E.
Asner G.P.
Díaz S.
Enquist B.J.
Malhi Y.
Publisher(s)
Ecological Society of America
Abstract
Understanding functional trait-environment relationships (TERs) may improve predictions of community assembly. However, many empirical TERs have been weak or lacking conceptual foundation. TERs based on leaf venation networks may better link individuals and communities via hydraulic constraints. We report measurements of vein density, vein radius, and leaf thickness for more than 100 dominant species occurring in ten forest communities spanning a 3,300 m Andes-Amazon elevation gradient in Peru. We use these data to measure the strength of TERs at community scale and to determine whether observed TERs are similar to those predicted by physiological theory. We found strong support for TERs between all traits and temperature, as well weaker support for a predicted TER between maximum abundance-weighted leaf transpiration rate and maximum potential evapotranspiration. These results provide one approach for developing a more mechanistic trait-based community assembly theory.
Start page
1239
End page
1255
Volume
98
Issue
5
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ecología
Subjects
DOI
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85017459774
PubMed ID
Source
Ecology
ISSN of the container
00129658
Sponsor(s)
This work is a product of the Global Ecosystems Monitoring (GEM) network (gem.tropicalforests.ox.ac.uk) the Andes Biodiversity and Ecosystems Research Group ABERG (andesresearch.org), the Amazon Forest Inventory Network RAINFOR (www.rainfor.org), and the Carnegie Spectranomics Project (spectranomics.carnegiescience.edu) research consortia. The field campaign was funded by grants to Yadvinder Malhi from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (Grant NE/J023418/1), with additional support from European Research Council advanced investigator grants GEM-TRAITS (321131), T-FORCES (291585), and a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation grant to Gregory Asner. We thank the Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado (SERNANP) and personnel of Manu and Tambopata National Parks for logistical assistance and permission to work in the protected areas. We also thank the Explorers’ Inn and the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, as well as ACCA for use of the Tambopata and Wayqecha Research Stations, respectively. Professor Eric Cosio (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru) provided assistance with research permissions and sample analysis and storage. Taxonomic work at Carnegie Institution was facilitated by Raul Tupayachi, Felipe Sinca, and Nestor Jaramillo. Clarke Knight made vein radius measurements. Benjamin Blonder was supported by a United States National Science Foundation graduate research fellowship and doctoral dissertation improvement grant DEB-1209287, as well as a UK Natural Environment Research Council independent research fellowship NE/M019160/1. Gregory Asner and the Spectranomics team were supported by the endowment of the Carnegie Institution for Science and a grant from the National Science Foundation (DEB-1146206). Brian J. Enquist was supported by the National Science Foundation (Macrosystems-1065861 and DEB-1457812). Yadvinder Malhi was supported by the Jackson Foundation. Sandra Díaz was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (UK), the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, and FONCyT and CONICET (Argentina). Gregory Goldsmith was supported by funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement 290605 (COFUND: PSI-FELLOW). Cyrille Violle was supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Program (DiversiTraits project, no. 221060) and by the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant Project StG-2014-639706-CONSTRAINTS. We thank several anonymous reviewers for comments that greatly improved the manuscript.
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