Browsing by Author "Ceriani, Roberta M"

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    An evolutionary perspective on leaf economics: Phylogenetics of leaf mass per area in vascular plants
    (2014) Flores, Olivier; Garnier, Eric; Wright, Ian J; Reich, Peter B; Pierce, Simon; D ıaz, Sandra; Pakeman, Robin J; Rusch, Graciela M; Bernard-Verdier, Maud; Testi, Baptiste; Bakker1, Jan P; Bekker, Renee M; Cerabolini, Bruno E L; Ceriani, Roberta M; Cornu, Guillaume; Cruz, Pablo; Delcamp, Matthieu; Dolezal, Jiri; Eriksson, Ove; Fayolle, Adeline; Freitas, Helena; Golodets, Carly; Gourlet-Fleury, Sylvie; Hodgson, John G; Brusa, Guido; Kleyer, Michael; Kunzmann, Dieter; Lavorel, Sandra; Papanastasis, Vasilios P; Perez-Harguindeguy, Natalia; Vendramini, Fernanda; Weiher, Evan
    In plant leaves, resource use follows a trade-off between rapid resource capture and conservative storage. This “worldwide leaf economics spectrum” consists of a suite of intercorrelated leaf traits, among which leaf mass per area, LMA, is one of the most fundamental as it indicates the cost of leaf construction and light-interception borne by plants. We conducted a broad-scale analysis of the evolutionary history of LMA across a large dataset of 5401 vascular plant species. The phylogenetic signal in LMA displayed low but significant conservatism, that is, leaf economics tended to be more similar among close relatives than expected by chance alone. Models of trait evolution indicated that LMA evolved under weak stabilizing selection. Moreover, results suggest that different optimal phenotypes evolved among large clades within which extremes tended to be selected against. Conservatism in LMA was strongly related to growth form, as were selection intensity and phenotypic evolutionary rates: woody plants showed higher conservatism in relation to stronger stabilizing selection and lower evolutionary rates compared to herbaceous taxa. The evolutionary history of LMA thus paints different evolutionary trajectories of vascular plant species across clades, revealing the coordination of leaf trait evolution with growth forms in response to varying selection regimes.
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    A global method for calculating plant CSR ecological strategies applied across biomes world‐wide
    (Wiley, 2017) Pierce, Simon; Negreiros, Daniel; Cerabolini, Bruno E. L.; Kattge, Jens; Díaz, Sandra; Kleyer, Michael; Shipley, Bill; Wright, Stuart Joseph; Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A; Onipchenko, Vladimir G.; van Bodegom, Peter M; Frenette-Dussault, Cedric; Weiher, Evan; Pinho, Bruno X; Cornelissen, Johannes H. C.; Grime, John Philip; Thompson, Ken; Hunt, Roderick; Wilson, Peter J,; Buffa, Gabriella; Nyakunga, Oliver C; Reich, Peter B; Caccianiga, Marco; Mangili, Federico; Ceriani, Roberta M; Luzzaro, Alessandra; Brusa, Guido; Siefert, Andrew; Barbosa, Newton P. U.; Chapin, Francis Stuart, III; Cornwell, William K; Fang, Jingyun; Fernandes, Geraldo Wilson; Garnier, Eric; Le Stradic, Soizig; Peñuelas, Josep; Melo, Felipe P. L.; Slaviero, Antonio; Tabarelli, Marcelo; Tampucci, Duccio
    Competitor, stress-tolerator, ruderal (CSR) theory is a prominent plant functional strategy scheme previously applied to local floras. Globally, the wide geographic and phylogenetic coverage of available values of leaf area (LA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and specific leaf area (SLA) (representing, respectively, interspecific variation in plant size and conservative vs. acquisitive resource economics) promises the general application of CSR strategies across biomes, including the tropical forests hosting a large proportion of Earth's diversity. We used trait variation for 3068 tracheophytes (representing 198 families, six continents and 14 biomes) to create a globally calibrated CSR strategy calculator tool and investigate strategy–environment relationships across biomes world-wide. Due to disparity in trait availability globally, co-inertia analysis was used to check correspondence between a ‘wide geographic coverage, few traits’ data set and a ‘restricted coverage, many traits’ subset of 371 species for which 14 whole-plant, flowering, seed and leaf traits (including leaf nitrogen content) were available. CSR strategy/environment relationships within biomes were investigated using fourth-corner and RLQ analyses to determine strategy/climate specializations. Strong, significant concordance (RV = 0·597; P < 0·0001) was evident between the 14 trait multivariate space and when only LA, LDMC and SLA were used. Biomes such as tropical moist broadleaf forests exhibited strategy convergence (i.e. clustered around a CS/CSR median; C:S:R = 43:42:15%), with CS-selection associated with warm, stable situations (lesser temperature seasonality), with greater annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. Other biomes were characterized by strategy divergence: for example, deserts varied between xeromorphic perennials such as Larrea divaricata, classified as S-selected (C:S:R = 1:99:0%) and broadly R-selected annual herbs (e.g. Claytonia perfoliata; R/CR-selected; C:S:R = 21:0:79%). Strategy convergence was evident for several growth habits (e.g. trees) but not others (forbs). The CSR strategies of vascular plants can now be compared quantitatively within and between biomes at the global scale. Through known linkages between underlying leaf traits and growth rates, herbivory and decomposition rates, this method and the strategy–environment relationships it elucidates will help to predict which kinds of species may assemble in response to changes in biogeochemical cycles, climate and land use.