Incorporation of plant traits in a land surface model helps explain the global biogeographical distribution of major forest functional types

Abstract

Contrasting leaf types with different leaf life spans represent different adaptive strategies in plants. Previous studies explained the adaptive advantages of different strategies on the basis of environmental climatic limits, but could not account for the observed co-dominance of multiple plant functional types (PFTs) in many regions. Here we used a process-based model to explore whether observed inter- and intra-PFT variation in plant traits can explain global biogeographical variation in the dominance and co-dominance of major forest types.