Global plant trait relationships extend to the climatic extremes of the tundra biome
Haydn J. D. Thomas, Anne D. Bjorkman, Isla H. Myers‐Smith, Sarah C. Elmendorf, Jens Kattge, Sandra Dı́az, Mark Vellend, Daan Blok, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen, Bruce C. Forbes, Gregory H. R. Henry, Robert D. Hollister, Signe Normand, Janet S. Prevéy, Christian Rixen, Gabriela Schaepman‐Strub, Martin Wilmking, Sonja Wipf, William K. Cornwell, Pieter S. A. Beck, Damien Georges, S. J. Goetz, Kevin C. Guay, Nadja Rüger, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Marko J. Spasojevic, Juha M. Alatalo, Heather D. Alexander, Alba Anadon‐Rosell, Sandra Angers‐Blondin, Mariska te Beest, Logan T. Berner, Robert G. Björk, Agata Buchwał, Allan Buras, Michele Carbognani, Katherine S. Christie, Leonardo Santos Collier, Elisabeth J. Cooper, Bo Elberling, Anu Eskelinen, Esther R. Frei, Oriol Grau, Paul Grogan, Martin Hallinger, Monique Heijmans, Luise Hermanutz, James M. Hudson, Jill F. Johnstone, Karl Hülber, Maitane Iturrate‐Garcia, Colleen M. Iversen, Francesca Jaroszynska, Elina Kaarlejärvi, Aino Kulonen, Laurent J. Lamarque, Trevor C. Lantz, Esther Lévesque, Chelsea J. Little, Anders Michelsen, Ann Milbau, Jacob Nabe‐Nielsen, Sigrid Schøler Nielsen, Josep M. Ninot, Steven F. Oberbauer, Johan Olofsson, V. G. Onipchenko, Alessandro Petraglia, Sabine B. Rumpf, Rohan Shetti, James D. M. Speed, Katharine N. Suding, Ken D. Tape, Marcello Tomaselli, Andrew J. Trant, Urs A. Treier, Mathieu Tremblay, Susanna Venn, Tage Vowles, Stef Weijers, Philip A. Wookey, Tara Zamin, Michael Bahn, Benjamin Blonder, Peter M. van Bodegom, Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Giandiego Campetella, Bruno Enrico Leone Cerabolini, F. Stuart Chapin, Joseph M. Craine, Matteo Dainese, W. A. Green, Steven Jansen, Michael Kleyer, Peter Manning, Ülo Niinemets, Yusuke Onoda, W.A. Ozinga, Josep Peñuelas, Peter Poschlod
Abstract
The majority of variation in six traits critical to the growth, survival and reproduction of plant species is thought to be organised along just two dimensions, corresponding to strategies of plant size and resource acquisition. However, it is unknown whether global plant trait relationships extend to climatic extremes, and if these interspecific relationships are confounded by trait variation within species. We test whether trait relationships extend to the cold extremes of life on Earth using the largest database of tundra plant traits yet compiled. We show that tundra plants demonstrate remarkably similar resource economic traits, but not size traits, compared to global distributions, and exhibit the same two dimensions of trait variation. Three quarters of trait variation occurs among species, mirroring global estimates of interspecific trait variation. Plant trait relationships are thus generalizable to the edge of global trait-space, informing prediction of plant community change in a warming world.