Evidence of the plant economics spectrum in a subarctic flora.

• Published in: Journal of Ecology
• Main Authors: Freschet, G.T., Cornelissen, J.H.C., van Logtestijn, R.S.P, Aerts, R.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Subarctic
• Online Access: https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/f25bf2ac-e533-4741-8e0f-195cbea0c0be; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01615.x

A fundamental trade-off among vascular plants between traits inferring rapid resource acquisition and those leading to conservation of resources has now been accepted broadly, but is based on empirical data with a strong bias towards leaf traits. Here, we test whether interspecific variation in traits of different plant organs obeys this same trade-off and whether within-plant trade-offs are consistent between organs. Thereto, we measured suites of the same chemical and structural traits from the main vegetative organs for a species set representing aquatic, riparian and terrestrial environments including the main vascular higher taxa and growth forms of a subarctic flora. The traits were chosen to have consistent relevance for plant defence and growth across organs and environments: carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, lignin, dry matter content, pH. Our analysis shows several new trait correlations across leaves, stems and roots and a striking pattern of whole-plant integrative resource economy, leading to tight correspondence between the local leaf economics spectrum and the root (r = 0.64), stem (r = 0.78) and whole-plant (r = 0.93) economics spectra. Synthesis. Our findings strongly suggest that plant resource economics is consistent across species' organs in a subarctic flora. We provide thus the first evidence for a 'plant economics spectrum' closely related to the local subarctic 'leaf economics spectrum'. Extending that concept to other biomes is, however, necessary before any generalization might be made. In a world facing rapid vegetation change, these results nevertheless bear considerable prospects of predicting below-ground plant functions from the above-ground components alone. © 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 British Ecological Society.