Global plant trait relationships extend to the climatic extremes of the tundra biome.
Haydn J D ThomasAnne D BjorkmanIsla H Myers-SmithS C ElmendorfJens KattgeSandra DiazM VellendD BlokJ H C CornelissenBruce C ForbesG H R HenryRobert D HollisterS NormandJ S PrevéyC RixenGabriela Schaepman-StrubMartin WilmkingSonja WipfW K CornwellP S A BeckD GeorgesScott J GoetzK C GuayNadja RügerNadejda A SoudzilovskaiaMarko J SpasojevicJuha M AlataloH D AlexanderAlba Anadon-RosellS Angers-BlondinM Te BeestLogan T BernerRobert G BjörkAgata BuchwalAllan BurasMichele CarbognaniK S ChristieL S CollierElisabeth J CooperBo ElberlingAnu EskelinenEsther R FreiO GrauPaul GroganM HallingerM M P D HeijmansL HermanutzJ M G HudsonJill F JohnstoneKarl HülberM Iturrate-GarciaColleen M IversenF JaroszynskaElina KaarlejärviA KulonenLaurent J LamarqueT C LantzEsther LévesqueChelsea J LittleAnders MichelsenA MilbauJacob Nabe-NielsenS S NielsenJ M NinotS F OberbauerJ OlofssonVladimir G OnipchenkoAlessandro PetragliaSabine B RumpfRohan ShettiJames D M SpeedK N SudingK D TapeMarcello TomaselliA J TrantU A TreierM TremblaySusanna E VennT VowlesStef WeijersPhilip A WookeyT J ZaminM BahnB BlonderPeter M Van BodegomBenjamin Bond-LambertyGiandiego CampetellaBruno E L CeraboliniF S ChapinJoseph M CraineMatteo DaineseW A GreenSteven JansenMichael KleyerPeter ManningÜ NiinemetsYusuke OnodaWim A OzingaJosep PenuelasP PoschlodPeter B ReichB SandelBrandon S SchampS N SheremetievFranciska T de VriesPublished in: Nature communications (2020)
The majority of variation in six traits critical to the growth, survival and reproduction of plant species is thought to be organised along just two dimensions, corresponding to strategies of plant size and resource acquisition. However, it is unknown whether global plant trait relationships extend to climatic extremes, and if these interspecific relationships are confounded by trait variation within species. We test whether trait relationships extend to the cold extremes of life on Earth using the largest database of tundra plant traits yet compiled. We show that tundra plants demonstrate remarkably similar resource economic traits, but not size traits, compared to global distributions, and exhibit the same two dimensions of trait variation. Three quarters of trait variation occurs among species, mirroring global estimates of interspecific trait variation. Plant trait relationships are thus generalizable to the edge of global trait-space, informing prediction of plant community change in a warming world.