A global meta-analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities

Author(s):Show less -

Siefert, Andrew ^[1] ; Violle, Cyrille ^[2] ; Chalmandrier, Loic ^{[3, 4]} ; Albert, Cecile H. ^[5] ; Taudiere, Adrien ^[2] ; Fajardo, Alex ^[6] ; Aarssen, Lonnie W. ^[7] ; Baraloto, Christopher ^{[8, 9]} ; Carlucci, Marcos B. ^{[10, 11, 12]} ; Cianciaruso, Marcus V. ^[13] ; Dantas, Vinicius de L. ^[14] ; de Bello, Francesco ^{[15, 16]} ; Duarte, Leandro D. S. ^[11] ; Fonseca, Carlos R. ^[17] ; Freschet, Gregoire T. ^{[18, 2]} ; Gaucherand, Stephanie ^[19] ; Gross, Nicolas ^{[20, 21]} ; Hikosaka, Kouki ^[22] ; Jackson, Benjamin ^[23] ; Jung, Vincent ^[24] ; Kamiyama, Chiho ^[25] ; Katabuchi, Masatoshi ^[26] ; Kembel, Steven W. ^[27] ; Kichenin, Emilie ^[18] ; Kraft, Nathan J. B. ^[28] ; Lagerstrom, Anna ^[18] ; Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Yoann ^[16] ; Li, Yuanzhi ^[29] ; Mason, Norman ^[30] ; Messier, Julie ^[31] ; Nakashizuka, Tohru ^[22] ; McC Overton, Jacob ^[30] ; Peltzer, Duane A. ^[32] ; Perez-Ramos, I. M. ^[33] ; Pillar, Valerio D. ^{[34, 11]} ; Prentice, Honor C. ^[35] ; Richardson, Sarah ^[32] ; Sasaki, Takehiro ^[36] ; Schamp, Brandon S. ^[37] ; Schoeb, Christian ^[38] ; Shipley, Bill ^[29] ; Sundqvist, Maja ^{[39, 40]} ; Sykes, Martin T. ^[41] ; Vandewalle, Marie ^[41] ; Wardle, David A. ^[18]

Affiliation:Show less -

^[1] Univ Calif Davis, Dept Ecol & Evolut, Davis, CA 95616 - USA

^[2] Univ Montpellier 3, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, Ctr Ecol Fonct & Evolut, EPHE, UMR 5175, F-34293 Montpellier - France

^[3] Univ Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble - France

^[4] CNRS, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble - France

^[5] Aix Marseille Univ, Avignon Univ, CNRS, IRD, IMBE, F-13397 Marseille - France

^[6] Univ Austral Chile, CIEP Conicyt Reg R10C1003, Coyhaique 5951601 - Chile

^[7] Queens Univ, Dept Biol, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6 - Canada

^[8] INRA, UMR Ecol Forets Guyane, F-97387 Kourou - France

^[9] Florida Int Univ, Dept Biol Sci, Int Ctr Trop Bot, Miami, FL 33199 - USA

^[10] Minist Educ Brazil, CAPES Fdn, BR-70040020 Brasilia, DF - Brazil

^[11] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Programa Pos Grad Ecol, BR-91501970 Porto Alegre, RS - Brazil

^[12] Univ Fed Goias, Programa Posgrad Ecol & Evolucao, BR-74690900 Goiania, Go - Brazil

^[13] Univ Fed Goias, Dept Ecol, BR-74690900 Goiania, Go - Brazil

^[14] Univ Estadual Campinas, Dept Plant Biol, BR-13083970 Campinas, SP - Brazil

^[15] Acad Sci Czech Republic, Inst Bot, CZ-37982 Trebon - Czech Republic

^[16] Univ South Bohemia, Fac Sci, Dept Bot, CZ-37005 Ceske Budejovice - Czech Republic

^[17] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Norte, Dept Ecol, BR-59092350 Natal, RN - Brazil

^[18] Swedish Univ Agr Sci, Dept Forest Ecol & Management, S-90183 Umea - Sweden

^[19] IRSTEA, Unite Rech Ecosyst Montagnards, F-38402 St Martin Dheres - France

^[20] INRA, USC1339 Chize CEBC, F-79360 Villiers En Bois - France

^[21] Univ La Rochelle, CNRS, Ctr Etud Biol Chize, UMR 7372, F-79360 Villiers En Bois - France

^[22] Tohoku Univ, Grad Sch Life Sci, Aoba Ku, Sendai, Miyagi 9808578 - Japan

^[23] Ctr Ecol & Hydrol, Lancaster LA1 4AP - England

^[24] Univ Rennes 1, ECOBIO, CNRS UMR 6553, F-35042 Rennes - France

^[25] United Nations Univ, Inst Adv Study Sustainabil, Shibuya 1508925 - Japan

^[26] Univ Florida, Dept Biol, Gainesville, FL 32611 - USA

^[27] Univ Quebec, Dept Sci Biol, Montreal, PQ H3C 3P8 - Canada

^[28] Univ Maryland, Dept Biol, College Pk, MD 20742 - USA

^[29] Univ Sherbrooke, Dept Biol, Sherbrooke, PQ J1K 2R1 - Canada

^[30] Landcare Res, Hamilton 3240 - New Zealand

^[31] Univ Arizona, Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Tucson, AZ 85721 - USA

^[32] Landcare Res, Lincoln 7640 - New Zealand

^[33] CSIC, Inst Recursos Nat & Agrobiol Sevilla IRNAS, E-41080 Seville - Spain

^[34] Univ Fed Rio Grande do Sul, Dept Ecol, Porto Alegre, RS - Brazil

^[35] Lund Univ, Dept Biol, SE-22362 Lund - Sweden

^[36] Univ Tokyo, Grad Sch Frontier Sci, Kashiwa, Chiba 2778563 - Japan

^[37] Algoma Univ, Dept Biol, Marie, ON P6A 2G4 - Canada

^[38] Univ Zurich, Inst Evolutionary Biol & Environm Studies, CH-8057 Zurich - Switzerland

^[39] Univ Copenhagen, Nat Hist Museum Denmark, Ctr Macroecol Evolut & Climate, DK-2100 Copenhagen - Denmark

^[40] Umea Univ, Dept Ecol & Environm Sci, SE-90187 Umea - Sweden

^[41] Lund Univ, Dept Phys Geog & Ecosyst Sci, SE-22362 Lund - Sweden

• Document type: Review article
• Source: ECOLOGY LETTERS; v. 18, n. 12, p. 1406-1419, DEC 2015.
• Web of Science Citations: 215

Abstract

Recent studies have shown that accounting for intraspecific trait variation (ITV) may better address major questions in community ecology. However, a general picture of the relative extent of ITV compared to interspecific trait variation in plant communities is still missing. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of the relative extent of ITV within and among plant communities worldwide, using a data set encompassing 629 communities (plots) and 36 functional traits. Overall, ITV accounted for 25% of the total trait variation within communities and 32% of the total trait variation among communities on average. The relative extent of ITV tended to be greater for whole-plant (e.g. plant height) vs. organ-level traits and for leaf chemical (e.g. leaf N and P concentration) vs. leaf morphological (e.g. leaf area and thickness) traits. The relative amount of ITV decreased with increasing species richness and spatial extent, but did not vary with plant growth form or climate. These results highlight global patterns in the relative importance of ITV in plant communities, providing practical guidelines for when researchers should include ITV in trait-based community and ecosystem studies. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/06453-0 - Towards an understanding of tipping points within tropical South American biomes
• Grantee: Vinicius de Lima Dantas
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 13/50169-1 - Towards an understanding of tipping points within tropical South American biomes
• Grantee: Ricardo da Silva Torres
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Research Partnership for Technological Innovation - PITE