TY - JOUR
T1 - An evolutionary perspective on leaf economics
T2 - Phylogenetics of leaf mass per area in vascular plants
AU - Flores, Olivier
AU - Garnier, Eric
AU - Wright, Ian J.
AU - Reich, Peter B.
AU - Pierce, Simon
AU - Dìaz, Sandra
AU - Pakeman, Robin J.
AU - Rusch, Graciela M.
AU - Bernard-Verdier, Maud
AU - Testi, Baptiste
AU - Bakker, Jan P.
AU - Bekker, Renée M.
AU - Cerabolini, Bruno E.L.
AU - Ceriani, Roberta M.
AU - Cornu, Guillaume
AU - Cruz, Pablo
AU - Delcamp, Matthieu
AU - Dolezal, Jiri
AU - Eriksson, Ove
AU - Fayolle, Adeline
AU - Freitas, Helena
AU - Golodets, Carly
AU - Gourlet-Fleury, Sylvie
AU - Hodgson, John G.
AU - Brusa, Guido
AU - Kleyer, Michael
AU - Kunzmann, Dieter
AU - Lavorel, Sandra
AU - Papanastasis, Vasilios P.
AU - Pérez-Harguindeguy, Natalia
AU - Vendramini, Fernanda
AU - Weiher, Evan
PY - 2014/7
Y1 - 2014/7
N2 - 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. Phylogenetic patterns in a key trait of plants resource-use strategies, leaf mass per area, are analyzed across a large dataset of vascular plants. Growth forms appear as a major correlate of the tempo of trait evolution. Different phenotypic optima are evidenced major across clades suggesting phylogenetic constraints in the phenotypic evolution of leaves.
AB - 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. Phylogenetic patterns in a key trait of plants resource-use strategies, leaf mass per area, are analyzed across a large dataset of vascular plants. Growth forms appear as a major correlate of the tempo of trait evolution. Different phenotypic optima are evidenced major across clades suggesting phylogenetic constraints in the phenotypic evolution of leaves.
KW - Brownian model
KW - Functional trait
KW - Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model
KW - Phenotypic evolution
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U2 - 10.1002/ece3.1087
DO - 10.1002/ece3.1087
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84904580410
SN - 2045-7758
VL - 4
SP - 2799
EP - 2811
JO - Ecology and Evolution
JF - Ecology and Evolution
IS - 14
ER -