TY - JOUR
T1 - Leading trait dimensions in flood-tolerant plants
AU - Pan, Yingji
AU - Cieraad, Ellen
AU - Armstrong, Jean
AU - Armstrong, William
AU - Clarkson, Beverley R.
AU - Pedersen, Ole
AU - Visser, Eric J.W.
AU - Voesenek, Laurentius A.C.J.
AU - van Bodegom, Peter M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company.
PY - 2022/9/1
Y1 - 2022/9/1
N2 - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: While trait-based approaches have provided critical insights into general plant functioning, we lack a comprehensive quantitative view on plant strategies in flooded conditions. Plants adapted to flooded conditions have specific traits (e.g. root porosity, low root/shoot ratio and shoot elongation) to cope with the environmental stressors including anoxic sediments, and the subsequent presence of phytotoxic compounds. In flooded habitats, plants also respond to potential nutrient and light limitations, e.g. through the expression of leaf economics traits and size-related traits, respectively. However, we do not know whether and how these trait dimensions are connected. METHODS: Based on a trait dataset compiled on 131 plant species from 141 studies in flooded habitats, we quantitatively analysed how flooding-induced traits are positioned in relation to the other two dominant trait dimensions: leaf economics traits and size-related traits. We evaluated how these key trait components are expressed along wetness gradients, across habitat types and among plant life forms. KEY RESULTS: We found that flooding-induced traits constitute a trait dimension independent from leaf economics traits and size-related traits, indicating that there is no generic trade-off associated with flooding adaptations. Moreover, individual flooding-induced traits themselves are to a large extent decoupled from each other. These results suggest that adaptation to stressful environments, such as flooding, can be stressor specific without generic adverse effects on plant functioning (e.g. causing trade-offs on leaf economics traits). CONCLUSIONS: The trait expression across multiple dimensions promotes plant adaptations and coexistence across multifaceted flooded environments. The decoupled trait dimensions, as related to different environmental drivers, also explain why ecosystem functioning (including, for example, methane emissions) are species and habitat specific. Thus, our results provide a backbone for applying trait-based approaches in wetland ecology by considering flooding-induced traits as an independent trait dimension.
AB - BACKGROUND AND AIMS: While trait-based approaches have provided critical insights into general plant functioning, we lack a comprehensive quantitative view on plant strategies in flooded conditions. Plants adapted to flooded conditions have specific traits (e.g. root porosity, low root/shoot ratio and shoot elongation) to cope with the environmental stressors including anoxic sediments, and the subsequent presence of phytotoxic compounds. In flooded habitats, plants also respond to potential nutrient and light limitations, e.g. through the expression of leaf economics traits and size-related traits, respectively. However, we do not know whether and how these trait dimensions are connected. METHODS: Based on a trait dataset compiled on 131 plant species from 141 studies in flooded habitats, we quantitatively analysed how flooding-induced traits are positioned in relation to the other two dominant trait dimensions: leaf economics traits and size-related traits. We evaluated how these key trait components are expressed along wetness gradients, across habitat types and among plant life forms. KEY RESULTS: We found that flooding-induced traits constitute a trait dimension independent from leaf economics traits and size-related traits, indicating that there is no generic trade-off associated with flooding adaptations. Moreover, individual flooding-induced traits themselves are to a large extent decoupled from each other. These results suggest that adaptation to stressful environments, such as flooding, can be stressor specific without generic adverse effects on plant functioning (e.g. causing trade-offs on leaf economics traits). CONCLUSIONS: The trait expression across multiple dimensions promotes plant adaptations and coexistence across multifaceted flooded environments. The decoupled trait dimensions, as related to different environmental drivers, also explain why ecosystem functioning (including, for example, methane emissions) are species and habitat specific. Thus, our results provide a backbone for applying trait-based approaches in wetland ecology by considering flooding-induced traits as an independent trait dimension.
KW - Adaptations to stressful environments
KW - flooding-induced traits
KW - key trait dimensions
KW - leaf economics traits
KW - plant strategies and functioning
KW - trait-based approaches
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138460178&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/aob/mcac031
DO - 10.1093/aob/mcac031
M3 - Article
C2 - 35259242
AN - SCOPUS:85138460178
SN - 0305-7364
VL - 130
SP - 383
EP - 392
JO - Annals of Botany
JF - Annals of Botany
IS - 3
ER -