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Title:
Data for Davrinche & Haider, 2021 : Intra-specific leaf trait responses to species richness at two different local scales.
Access rights:
Free within projects
Usage rights:
A. Davrinche, S. Haider
Published:
1. Davrinche A. & Haider S. (2021). Intra-specific leaf trait responses to species richness at two different local scales. Basic and Applied Ecology, 55, 20-32, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2021.04.011
Abstract:
Plant functional traits, especially leaf traits, are accepted proxies for ecosystem properties. Typically, they are measured at the species level, neglecting within-species variation. While there is extensive knowledge about functional trait changes (both within and across species) along abiotic gradients, little is known about biotic influences, in particular at local scales. Here, we used a large biodiversity-ecosystem functioning experiment in subtropical China to investigate intra-specific trait changes of 16 tree species as a response to species richness of the local neighbourhood. We hypothesized that because of positive complementarity effects, species shift their leaf traits towards a more acquisitive growth strategy, when species richness of the local neighbourhood is higher. The trait shift should be most pronounced, when a focal tree’s closest neighbour is from a different species, but should still be detectable as a response to species richness of the directly surrounding tree community. Consequently, we expected that trees with a con-specific closest neighbour have the strongest response to species richness of the surrounding tree community, i.e., the steepest increase of acquisitive traits. Our results indicate that species diversity promoted reduced competition and complementarity in resource use at both spatial scales considered. In addition, the closest neighbour had considerably stronger effects than the surrounding tree community. As expected, trees with a con-specific nearest neighbour showed the strongest trait shifts. However, the predicted positive effect of local hetero-specificity disappeared at the highest diversity levels of the surrounding tree community, potentially resulting from a higher probability to meet a strong competitor in a diverse environment. Our findings show that leaf traits within the same species vary not only in response to changing abiotic conditions, but also in response to local species richness. This highlights the benefit of including within-species trait variation when analysing relationships between plant functional traits and ecosystem functions.
Design:
We made use of the Tree Species Pairs (TSP) design within the BEF-China experiment (Site A) to measure SLA (specific leaf area), LDMC (leaf dry matter content), leaf C (carbon), leaf N (nitrogen), leaf C:N (carbon to nitrogen ratio), leaf Mg (magnesium), leaf Ca (calcium), leaf K (potassium) and leaf P (phosphorus). For each of the 432 studied trees we collected leaves within the interaction plane of the TSP, at 3 to 5 different heights along the crown. At each height, we cut 3 leaves for which we measured the near-infrared spectrum. Together with the trait values of additional samples processed in the laboratory, we predicted the TSPs' trait values from each single spectrum. Here, values are averaged at the tree level (1 mean trait value per tree for each trait). For detaileds methods, see Material & methods of the corresponding paper.
Spatial extent:
BEF-China main experiment : Site A Xingangshan, Jiangxi Province, Dexing County, China 29°080 29°110N, 117° 900 117°930E (geoname ID 7651294)
Temporal extent:
No information available
Taxonomic extent:
We used leaf traits of the 16 tree species of Site A. A full list of the species can be found in the 'Species' column of the dataset, and in Table A1 of the supplementary material accompanying the associated paper.
Measurement cirumstances:
No information available
Data analysis:
We analysed the effects of local neighbourhood richness (i.e, the species richness of the ten trees directly surrounding a TSP) and TSP diversity (i.e, mono- or hetero-specific TSPs) on nine structural and biochemical leaf traits.

Filter:
Dataset column

Name:
TreeID
Definition:
Tree identification number; Datagroup description: Unique identification number for each unit described
Unit:
No information available
Datagroup:
Identifier
Keywords:
location; identification
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
TSP_ID
Definition:
Tree Species Pair identification number; Datagroup description: Unique identification number for each unit described
Unit:
No information available
Datagroup:
Identifier
Keywords:
location; identification
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
Plot
Definition:
Plot identification number; Datagroup description: Unique identification number for each unit described
Unit:
No information available
Datagroup:
Identifier
Keywords:
location; identification
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
Diversity
Definition:
Tree species richness at the plot level; Datagroup description: Element describing the species richness of a focal tree and its surroundings
Unit:
No information available
Datagroup:
Diversity
Keywords:
richness
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
X
Definition:
Tree coordinate X on the regular planting grid of the plot; Datagroup description: Unique identification number for each unit described
Unit:
No information available
Datagroup:
Identifier
Keywords:
location
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
Y
Definition:
Tree coordinate Y on the regular planting grid of the plot; Datagroup description: Unique identification number for each unit described
Unit:
No information available
Datagroup:
Identifier
Keywords:
location
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
Species
Definition:
Scientific name of the focal tree' species; Datagroup description: Element describing the species richness of a focal tree and its surroundings
Unit:
No information available
Datagroup:
Diversity
Keywords:
richness; species identity
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
Neighborhood_TreeNumber
Definition:
Total number of living trees directly surrounding the two trees composing the Tree Species Pair; Datagroup description: Element describing the species richness of a focal tree and its surroundings
Unit:
No information available
Datagroup:
Diversity
Keywords:
richness; mortality; abundance
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
Neighborhood_Richness
Definition:
Total number of different tree species within the living trees directly surrounding the two trees composing the Tree Species Pair; Datagroup description: Element describing the species richness of a focal tree and its surroundings
Unit:
No information available
Datagroup:
Diversity
Keywords:
richness
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
TSP_Div
Definition:
Tree Species Pairs (TSP) diversity; Datagroup description: Element describing the species richness of a focal tree and its surroundings
Unit:
No information available
Datagroup:
Diversity
Keywords:
richness
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
SLA
Definition:
Specific leaf area; Datagroup description: Measurable property of the plant's leaf
Unit:
mm2/mg
Datagroup:
Leaf trait
Keywords:
Trait
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
LDMC
Definition:
Leaf dry matter content; Datagroup description: Measurable property of the plant's leaf
Unit:
mg/g
Datagroup:
Leaf trait
Keywords:
Trait
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
CN
Definition:
Leaf carbon to nitrogen ratio; Datagroup description: Measurable property of the plant's leaf
Unit:
g/g
Datagroup:
Leaf trait
Keywords:
Trait
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
C
Definition:
Mass based concentration of leaf carbon; Datagroup description: Measurable property of the plant's leaf
Unit:
%
Datagroup:
Leaf trait
Keywords:
Trait
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
N
Definition:
Mass based concentration of leaf nitrogen; Datagroup description: Measurable property of the plant's leaf
Unit:
%
Datagroup:
Leaf trait
Keywords:
Trait
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
MG
Definition:
Mass based concentration of leaf magnesium; Datagroup description: Measurable property of the plant's leaf
Unit:
mg/g
Datagroup:
Leaf trait
Keywords:
Trait
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
CA
Definition:
Mass based concentration of leaf calcium; Datagroup description: Measurable property of the plant's leaf
Unit:
mg/g
Datagroup:
Leaf trait
Keywords:
Trait
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
K
Definition:
Mass based concentration of leaf potassium; Datagroup description: Measurable property of the plant's leaf
Unit:
mg/g
Datagroup:
Leaf trait
Keywords:
Trait
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

Dataset column

Name:
P
Definition:
Mass based concentration of leaf phosphate; Datagroup description: Measurable property of the plant's leaf
Unit:
mg/g
Datagroup:
Leaf trait
Keywords:
Trait
Values:
Sample values are not displayed because this column hasn't been approved yet.
Contributors:
No information available

No information available


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Andréa
Davrinche

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Sylvia
Haider

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