Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

A global meta-analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities.

Siefert, Andrew ; Violle, Cyrille ; Chalmandrier, Loïc ; Albert, Cécile H ; Taudiere, Adrien ; Fajardo, Alex ; Aarssen, Lonnie W ; Baraloto, Christopher ; Carlucci, Marcos B and Cianciaruso, Marcus V , et al. (2015) In Ecology Letters 18(12). p.1406-1419
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that accounting for intraspecific trait variation (ITV) may better address major questions in community ecology. However, a general picture of the relative extent of ITV compared to interspecific trait variation in plant communities is still missing. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of the relative extent of ITV within and among plant communities worldwide, using a data set encompassing 629 communities (plots) and 36 functional traits. Overall, ITV accounted for 25% of the total trait variation within communities and 32% of the total trait variation among communities on average. The relative extent of ITV tended to be greater for whole-plant (e.g. plant height) vs. organ-level traits and for leaf chemical (e.g.... (More)
Recent studies have shown that accounting for intraspecific trait variation (ITV) may better address major questions in community ecology. However, a general picture of the relative extent of ITV compared to interspecific trait variation in plant communities is still missing. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of the relative extent of ITV within and among plant communities worldwide, using a data set encompassing 629 communities (plots) and 36 functional traits. Overall, ITV accounted for 25% of the total trait variation within communities and 32% of the total trait variation among communities on average. The relative extent of ITV tended to be greater for whole-plant (e.g. plant height) vs. organ-level traits and for leaf chemical (e.g. leaf N and P concentration) vs. leaf morphological (e.g. leaf area and thickness) traits. The relative amount of ITV decreased with increasing species richness and spatial extent, but did not vary with plant growth form or climate. These results highlight global patterns in the relative importance of ITV in plant communities, providing practical guidelines for when researchers should include ITV in trait-based community and ecosystem studies. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Ecology Letters
volume
18
issue
12
pages
1406 - 1419
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • pmid:26415616
  • wos:000364519000014
  • scopus:84946497490
  • pmid:26415616
ISSN
1461-023X
DOI
10.1111/ele.12508
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0862c0b1-744f-474d-be5e-5549c7fdef89 (old id 8034618)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:10:57
date last changed
2022-04-20 17:28:17
@article{0862c0b1-744f-474d-be5e-5549c7fdef89,
  abstract     = {{Recent studies have shown that accounting for intraspecific trait variation (ITV) may better address major questions in community ecology. However, a general picture of the relative extent of ITV compared to interspecific trait variation in plant communities is still missing. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of the relative extent of ITV within and among plant communities worldwide, using a data set encompassing 629 communities (plots) and 36 functional traits. Overall, ITV accounted for 25% of the total trait variation within communities and 32% of the total trait variation among communities on average. The relative extent of ITV tended to be greater for whole-plant (e.g. plant height) vs. organ-level traits and for leaf chemical (e.g. leaf N and P concentration) vs. leaf morphological (e.g. leaf area and thickness) traits. The relative amount of ITV decreased with increasing species richness and spatial extent, but did not vary with plant growth form or climate. These results highlight global patterns in the relative importance of ITV in plant communities, providing practical guidelines for when researchers should include ITV in trait-based community and ecosystem studies.}},
  author       = {{Siefert, Andrew and Violle, Cyrille and Chalmandrier, Loïc and Albert, Cécile H and Taudiere, Adrien and Fajardo, Alex and Aarssen, Lonnie W and Baraloto, Christopher and Carlucci, Marcos B and Cianciaruso, Marcus V and de L Dantas, Vinícius and de Bello, Francesco and Duarte, Leandro D S and Fonseca, Carlos R and Freschet, Grégoire T and Gaucherand, Stéphanie and Gross, Nicolas and Hikosaka, Kouki and Jackson, Benjamin and Jung, Vincent and Kamiyama, Chiho and Katabuchi, Masatoshi and Kembel, Steven W and Kichenin, Emilie and Kraft, Nathan J B and Lagerström, Anna and Bagousse-Pinguet, Yoann Le and Li, Yuanzhi and Mason, Norman and Messier, Julie and Nakashizuka, Tohru and Overton, Jacob McC and Peltzer, Duane A and Pérez-Ramos, I M and Pillar, Valério D and Prentice, Honor C and Richardson, Sarah and Sasaki, Takehiro and Schamp, Brandon S and Schöb, Christian and Shipley, Bill and Sundqvist, Maja and Sykes, Martin and Vandewalle, Marie and Wardle, David A}},
  issn         = {{1461-023X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{12}},
  pages        = {{1406--1419}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Ecology Letters}},
  title        = {{A global meta-analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ele.12508}},
  doi          = {{10.1111/ele.12508}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}