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Traditional plant functional groups explain variation in economic but not size-related traits across the tundra biome

Journal Article · · Global Ecology and Biogeography
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12783· OSTI ID:1482412
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  1. School of Geosciences University of Edinburgh Edinburgh United Kingdom
  2. School of Geosciences University of Edinburgh Edinburgh United Kingdom, Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark, Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK‐F) Frankfurt Germany
  3. Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado Boulder Colorado
  4. Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science, Lund University Lund Sweden
  5. Department of Ecological Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam The Netherlands
  6. Arctic Centre, University of Lapland Rovaniemi Finland
  7. Biology Department, Grand Valley State University Allendale Michigan
  8. Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark
  9. WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF Davos Switzerland
  10. Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland
  11. Institute for Botany and Landscape Ecology, Greifswald University Greifswald Germany
  12. School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia
  13. Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena Germany, German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Germany
  14. School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems, Northern Arizona University Flagstaff Arizona
  15. Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences Boothbay Maine
  16. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Qatar University Doha Qatar
  17. Institute for Botany and Landscape Ecology, Greifswald University Greifswald Germany, Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Barcelona Barcelona Spain, Biodiversity Research Institute University of Barcelona Barcelona Spain
  18. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden, Gothenburg Global Biodiversity Centre Gothenburg Sweden
  19. Institute of Geoecology and Geoinformation, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan Poland, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage Alaska
  20. Forest Ecology and Forest Management, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen Netherlands
  21. Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability, University of Parma Parma Italy
  22. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game Juneau Alaska
  23. Department of Biology, Memorial University St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador Canada
  24. Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT‐The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø Norway
  25. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Germany, Department of Physiological Diversity, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ Leipzig Germany, Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu Oulu Finland
  26. Department of Geography, University of British Columbia Vancouver British Columbia Canada
  27. Global Ecology Unit, CREAF‐CSIC‐UAB‐UB Bellaterra Spain
  28. Department of Biology, Queen's University Kingston, Ontario Canada
  29. Biology Department, Swedish Agricultural University (SLU) Uppsala Sweden
  30. Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Wageningen University &, Research Wageningen The Netherlands
  31. British Columbia Public Service British Columbia Canada
  32. Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna Vienna Austria
  33. Climate Change Science Institute and Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge Tennessee
  34. Department of Biology, University of Bergen Bergen Norway
  35. Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon Canada
  36. Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umeå University Umeå Sweden, Department of Biology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) Brussels Belgium, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland
  37. WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research SLF Davos Switzerland, Department of Biology, University of Bergen Bergen Norway
  38. Département des Sciences de l'Environnement and Centres d'études nordiques, Université du Québec à Trois‐Rivières Trois‐Rivières Quebec Canada
  39. Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich Zurich Switzerland, Eawag Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science &, Technology Dubendorf Switzerland
  40. Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen Copenhagen Denmark, Center for Permafrost (CENPERM), University of Copenhagen Copenhagen Denmark
  41. Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) Brussels Belgium
  42. Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, University of Barcelona Barcelona Spain, Biodiversity Research Institute University of Barcelona Barcelona Spain
  43. Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University Miami Florida
  44. Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umeå University Umeå Sweden
  45. Department of Geobotany, Lomonosov Moscow State University Moscow Russia
  46. Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT‐The Arctic University of Norway Tromsø Norway, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna Vienna Austria
  47. Environmental Biology, Department Institute of Environmental Sciences, CML, Leiden University Leiden The Netherlands
  48. Department of Biology, University of California Riverside Riverside California
  49. NTNU University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim Norway
  50. Water and Environmental Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska
  51. Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Umeå University Umeå Sweden, Environmental Sciences, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands
  52. Department of Biology, Memorial University St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador Canada, School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo Waterloo Ontario Canada
  53. Research School of Biology, Australian National University Acton, ACT Australia, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University Burwood Victoria Australia
  54. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg Gothenburg Sweden
  55. Department of Geography, University of Bonn Bonn Germany
  56. Research School of Biology, Australian National University Acton, ACT Australia
  57. Department of Ecology, University of Innsbruck Innsbruck Austria
  58. Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford Oxford United Kingdom, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory Crested Butte Colorado
  59. School of Biosciences &, Veterinary Medicine ‐ Plant Diversity and Ecosystems Management Unit, University of Camerino Camerino Italy
  60. DiSTA, University of Insubria Varese Italy
  61. Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks Alaska
  62. Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg Würzburg Germany
  63. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester Manchester United Kingdom
  64. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV), CONICET and FCEFyN, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba Córdoba Argentina
  65. Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts
  66. Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University Stanford, California
  67. Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK‐F) Frankfurt Germany
  68. Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences Tartu Estonia
  69. Global Ecology Unit, CREAF‐CSIC‐UAB‐UB Bellaterra Spain, CREAF Cerdanyola del Vallès Spain
  70. Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota St. Paul, Minneapolis Minnesota, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University Penrith, NSW Australia
  71. Department of Biology, Algoma University Sault Ste. Marie Ontario Canada
  72. Komarov Botanical Institute St Petersburg Russia
+ Show Author Affiliations
Aim: Plant functional groups are widely used in community ecology and earth system modelling to describe trait variation within and across plant communities. However, this approach rests on the assumption that functional groups explain a large proportion of trait variation among species. We test whether four commonly used plant functional groups represent variation in six ecologically important plant traits. Location: Tundra biome. Time period: Data collected between 1964 and 2016. Major taxa studied: 295 tundra vascular plant species. Methods: We compiled a database of six plant traits (plant height, leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, leaf nitrogen, seed mass) for tundra species. We examined the variation in species-level trait expression explained by four traditional functional groups (evergreen shrubs, deciduous shrubs, graminoids, forbs), and whether variation explained was dependent upon the traits included in analysis. We further compared the explanatory power and species composition of functional groups to alternative classifications generated using post-hoc clustering of species-level traits. Results: Traditional functional groups explained significant differences in trait expression, particularly among traits associated with resource economics, which were consistent across sites and at the biome scale. However, functional groups explained 19% of overall trait variation and poorly represented differences in traits associated with plant size. Post-hoc classification of species did not correspond well with traditional functional groups, and explained twice as much variation in species-level trait expression. Main conclusion: Traditional functional groups only coarsely represent variation in well-measured traits within tundra plant communities, and better explain resource economic traits than size-related traits. We recommend caution when using functional group approaches to predict tundra ecosystem change, or ecosystem functions relating to plant size, such as albedo or carbon storage. We argue that alternative classifications or direct use of specific plant traits could provide new insight for ecological prediction and modelling.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER) (SC-23)
Contributing Organization:
sTUNDRA
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1482412
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1615228
OSTI ID: 1482413
Journal Information:
Global Ecology and Biogeography, Journal Name: Global Ecology and Biogeography Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 28; ISSN 1466-822X
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English

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