Which is a better predictor of plant traits: Temperature or precipitation?

Angela T. Moles; Sarah E. Perkins; Shawn W. Laffan; Habacuc Flores-Moreno; Monica Awasthy; Marianne L. Tindall; Lawren Sack; Andy Pitman; Jens Kattge; Lonnie W. Aarssen; Madhur Anand; Michael Bahn; Benjamin Blonder; Jeannine Cavender-Bares; J. Hans C. Cornelissen; Will K. Cornwell; Sandra Díaz; John B. Dickie; Grégoire T. Freschet; Joshua G. Griffiths; Alvaro G. Gutierrez; Frank A. Hemmings; Thomas Hickler; Timothy D. Hitchcock; Matthew Keighery; Michael Kleyer; Hiroko Kurokawa; Michelle R. Leishman; Kenwin Liu; Ülo Niinemets; Vladimir Onipchenko; Yusuke Onoda; Josep Penuelas; Valério D. Pillar; Peter B. Reich; Satomi Shiodera; Andrew Siefert; Enio E. Sosinski; Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia; Emily K. Swaine; Nathan G. Swenson; Peter M. van Bodegom; Laura Warman; Evan Weiher; Ian J. Wright; Hongxiang Zhang; Martin Zobel; Stephen P. Bonser

doi:10.1111/jvs.12190

Which is a better predictor of plant traits: Temperature or precipitation?

Angela T. Moles, Sarah E. Perkins, Shawn W. Laffan, Habacuc Flores-Moreno, Monica Awasthy, Marianne L. Tindall, Lawren Sack, Andy Pitman, Jens Kattge, Lonnie W. Aarssen, Madhur Anand, Michael Bahn, Benjamin Blonder, Jeannine Cavender-Bares, J. Hans C. Cornelissen, Will K. Cornwell, Sandra Díaz, John B. Dickie, Grégoire T. Freschet, Joshua G. GriffithsAlvaro G. Gutierrez, Frank A. Hemmings, Thomas Hickler, Timothy D. Hitchcock, Matthew Keighery, Michael Kleyer, Hiroko Kurokawa, Michelle R. Leishman, Kenwin Liu, Ülo Niinemets, Vladimir Onipchenko, Yusuke Onoda, Josep Penuelas, Valério D. Pillar, Peter B. Reich, Satomi Shiodera, Andrew Siefert, Enio E. Sosinski, Nadejda A. Soudzilovskaia, Emily K. Swaine, Nathan G. Swenson, Peter M. van Bodegom, Laura Warman, Evan Weiher, Ian J. Wright, Hongxiang Zhang, Martin Zobel, Stephen P. Bonser

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271 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

© 2014 International Association for Vegetation Science. Question: Are plant traits more closely correlated with mean annual temperature, orwithmean annual precipitation? Location: Global. Methods: We quantified the strength of the relationships between temperature and precipitation and 21 plant traits from 447,961 species-site combinations worldwide. We used meta-analysis to provide an overall answer to our question. Results: Mean annual temperature was significantly more strongly correlated with plant traits than was mean annual precipitation. Conclusions: Our study provides support for some of the assumptions of classical vegetation theory, and points to many interesting directions for future research. The relatively low R2 values for precipitation might reflect the weak link betweenmean annual precipitation and the availability of water to plants.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1167-1180
Journal	Journal of Vegetation Science
Volume	25
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12190
Publication status	Published - 1 Jan 2014

Keywords

Climate
Compound leaves
Dispersal syndrome
Functional traits
Leaf life span
Nitrogen fixation
Photosynthetic pathway
Plant height
Plant life span
Seed mass
Specific leaf area
Spinescence

Access to Document

10.1111/jvs.12190

Cite this

Moles, A. T., Perkins, S. E., Laffan, S. W., Flores-Moreno, H., Awasthy, M., Tindall, M. L., Sack, L., Pitman, A., Kattge, J., Aarssen, L. W., Anand, M., Bahn, M., Blonder, B., Cavender-Bares, J., Cornelissen, J. H. C., Cornwell, W. K., Díaz, S., Dickie, J. B., Freschet, G. T., ... Bonser, S. P. (2014). Which is a better predictor of plant traits: Temperature or precipitation? Journal of Vegetation Science, 25(5), 1167-1180. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12190

@article{eac1a8569c4645b6b9c7623b7bece4db,

title = "Which is a better predictor of plant traits: Temperature or precipitation?",

abstract = "{\textcopyright} 2014 International Association for Vegetation Science. Question: Are plant traits more closely correlated with mean annual temperature, orwithmean annual precipitation? Location: Global. Methods: We quantified the strength of the relationships between temperature and precipitation and 21 plant traits from 447,961 species-site combinations worldwide. We used meta-analysis to provide an overall answer to our question. Results: Mean annual temperature was significantly more strongly correlated with plant traits than was mean annual precipitation. Conclusions: Our study provides support for some of the assumptions of classical vegetation theory, and points to many interesting directions for future research. The relatively low R2 values for precipitation might reflect the weak link betweenmean annual precipitation and the availability of water to plants.",

keywords = "Climate, Compound leaves, Dispersal syndrome, Functional traits, Leaf life span, Nitrogen fixation, Photosynthetic pathway, Plant height, Plant life span, Seed mass, Specific leaf area, Spinescence",

author = "Moles, {Angela T.} and Perkins, {Sarah E.} and Laffan, {Shawn W.} and Habacuc Flores-Moreno and Monica Awasthy and Tindall, {Marianne L.} and Lawren Sack and Andy Pitman and Jens Kattge and Aarssen, {Lonnie W.} and Madhur Anand and Michael Bahn and Benjamin Blonder and Jeannine Cavender-Bares and Cornelissen, {J. Hans C.} and Cornwell, {Will K.} and Sandra D{\'i}az and Dickie, {John B.} and Freschet, {Gr{\'e}goire T.} and Griffiths, {Joshua G.} and Gutierrez, {Alvaro G.} and Hemmings, {Frank A.} and Thomas Hickler and Hitchcock, {Timothy D.} and Matthew Keighery and Michael Kleyer and Hiroko Kurokawa and Leishman, {Michelle R.} and Kenwin Liu and {\"U}lo Niinemets and Vladimir Onipchenko and Yusuke Onoda and Josep Penuelas and Pillar, {Val{\'e}rio D.} and Reich, {Peter B.} and Satomi Shiodera and Andrew Siefert and Sosinski, {Enio E.} and Soudzilovskaia, {Nadejda A.} and Swaine, {Emily K.} and Swenson, {Nathan G.} and {van Bodegom}, {Peter M.} and Laura Warman and Evan Weiher and Wright, {Ian J.} and Hongxiang Zhang and Martin Zobel and Bonser, {Stephen P.}",

year = "2014",

month = jan,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1111/jvs.12190",

language = "English",

volume = "25",

pages = "1167--1180",

journal = "Journal of Vegetation Science",

issn = "1100-9233",

number = "5",

}

Moles, AT, Perkins, SE, Laffan, SW, Flores-Moreno, H, Awasthy, M, Tindall, ML, Sack, L, Pitman, A, Kattge, J, Aarssen, LW, Anand, M, Bahn, M, Blonder, B, Cavender-Bares, J, Cornelissen, JHC, Cornwell, WK, Díaz, S, Dickie, JB, Freschet, GT, Griffiths, JG, Gutierrez, AG, Hemmings, FA, Hickler, T, Hitchcock, TD, Keighery, M, Kleyer, M, Kurokawa, H, Leishman, MR, Liu, K, Niinemets, Ü, Onipchenko, V, Onoda, Y, Penuelas, J, Pillar, VD, Reich, PB, Shiodera, S, Siefert, A, Sosinski, EE, Soudzilovskaia, NA, Swaine, EK, Swenson, NG, van Bodegom, PM, Warman, L, Weiher, E, Wright, IJ, Zhang, H, Zobel, M & Bonser, SP 2014, 'Which is a better predictor of plant traits: Temperature or precipitation?', Journal of Vegetation Science, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 1167-1180. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12190