HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

First published online May 7, 2009; doi:10.3732/ajb.0800312 American Journal of Botany 96: 1068-1074 (2009) © 2009 Botanical Society of America, Inc.

What's this?

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplementary Data All Versions of this Article: ajb.0800312v1 96/6/1068    most recent Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Vernescu, C. Articles by Ryser, P. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Vernescu, C. Articles by Ryser, P. Agricola Articles by Vernescu, C. Articles by Ryser, P. Social Bookmarking                            What's this?

Constraints on leaf structural traits in wetland plants¹

Laurentian University, Department of Biology, Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada P3E 2C6

ABSTRACT

A plant species’ ecology is associated with leaf economics, characterized, e.g., by photosynthetic rate, construction costs, and leaf life span. Specific leaf area (SLA, leaf area per leaf dry mass) is often considered to be a key trait in this respect, explaining interspecific variation in leaf economics. To understand factors constraining the specific leaf area, we investigated size-related biomechanical constraints of the traits that determine the SLA—leaf thickness, leaf dry matter content and leaf density—and the constraints these traits exert on each other among 33 herbaceous wetland species of northern Ontario with a wide variety of leaf forms, ranging from wide laminar leaves to long, narrow, and relatively thick columnar leaves. Data from garden experiments were compared with field data. The results agree with biomechanical predictions that lamina thickness and leaf dry matter content are positively and leaf density (fresh mass per volume) negatively associated with leaf length. The traits also constrain each other, but these intertrait relationships are confounded by interspecific variation in leaf length. We conclude that for a full understanding of the adaptive significance of leaf structural design, it is essential to include leaf size in the considerations.

Key Words: biomechanics • functional traits • leaf density • leaf dry matter content • leaf length • leaf thickness • Ontario • specific leaf area • wetland species

Received for publication 16 September 2008. Accepted for publication 20 February 2009.

FOOTNOTES

¹ The authors thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments on a previous version of this manuscript, P. Beckett for the introduction to the different wetlands around Sudbury, and J. Coulas and J. Irwin for help with work in the garden. The project was financially supported by NSERC (grant number 249689-2002), Laurentian University Research Fund and Ontario Government (OGSST).

² Author for correspondence (e-mail: pryser{at}laurentian.ca)

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?