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Physiological and structural tradeoffs underlying the leaf economics spectrum

Onoda, Yusuke; Wright, Ian J.; Evans, John; Hikosaka, Kouki; Kitajima, Kaoru; Niinemets, Ulo; Poorter, Hendrik; Tosens, Tiina; Westoby, Mark

Description

The leaf economics spectrum (LES) represents a suite of intercorrelated leaf traits concerning construction costs per unit leaf area, nutrient concentrations, and rates of carbon fixation and tissue turnover. Although broad trade-offs among leaf structural and physiological traits have been demonstrated, we still do not have a comprehensive view of the fundamental constraints underlying the LES trade-offs. Here, we investigated physiological and structural mechanisms underpinning the LES by...[Show more]

dc.contributor.authorOnoda, Yusuke
dc.contributor.authorWright, Ian J.
dc.contributor.authorEvans, John
dc.contributor.authorHikosaka, Kouki
dc.contributor.authorKitajima, Kaoru
dc.contributor.authorNiinemets, Ulo
dc.contributor.authorPoorter, Hendrik
dc.contributor.authorTosens, Tiina
dc.contributor.authorWestoby, Mark
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-28T01:15:31Z
dc.date.available2021-05-28T01:15:31Z
dc.identifier.issn0028-646X
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/235245
dc.description.abstractThe leaf economics spectrum (LES) represents a suite of intercorrelated leaf traits concerning construction costs per unit leaf area, nutrient concentrations, and rates of carbon fixation and tissue turnover. Although broad trade-offs among leaf structural and physiological traits have been demonstrated, we still do not have a comprehensive view of the fundamental constraints underlying the LES trade-offs. Here, we investigated physiological and structural mechanisms underpinning the LES by analysing a novel data compilation incorporating rarely considered traits such as the dry mass fraction in cell walls, nitrogen allocation, mesophyll CO2 diffusion and associated anatomical traits for hundreds of species covering major growth forms. The analysis demonstrates that cell wall constituents are major components of leaf dry mass (18–70%), especially in leaves with high leaf mass per unit area (LMA) and long lifespan. A greater fraction of leaf mass in cell walls is typically associated with a lower fraction of leaf nitrogen (N) invested in photosynthetic proteins; and lower within-leaf CO2 diffusion rates, as a result of thicker mesophyll cell walls. The costs associated with greater investments in cell walls underpin the LES: long leaf lifespans are achieved via higher LMA and in turn by higher cell wall mass fraction, but this inevitably reduces the efficiency of photosynthesis.
dc.description.sponsorshipThis study was partly supported by grants from JSPS KAKENHI and from the John Mung program of Kyoto University (Y.O.), from the Australian Research Council (I.J.W., M.W. and CE140100015 to J.R.E.) from the Estonian Research Council grant PUT 1473 (TT), and from the European Commission through the European Regional Fund (the Center of Excellence EcolChange; U.N. and T.T.).
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.language.isoen_AU
dc.publisherCambridge University Press
dc.rights© 2017 The Authors and New Phytologist Trust
dc.sourceNew Phytologist
dc.subjectanatomy
dc.subjectbiodiversity
dc.subjectcell walls
dc.subjectleaf economics spectrum
dc.subjectmesophyll conductance
dc.subjectnitrogen allocation
dc.subjectphotosynthesis
dc.titlePhysiological and structural tradeoffs underlying the leaf economics spectrum
dc.typeJournal article
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.citationvolume214
dcterms.dateAccepted2017-01-23
dc.date.issued2017-03-10
local.identifier.absfor060705 - Plant Physiology
local.identifier.ariespublicationa383154xPUB5398
local.publisher.urlhttps://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/
local.type.statusAccepted Version
local.contributor.affiliationOnoda, Yusuke, Kyoto University
local.contributor.affiliationWright, Ian J., Macquarie University
local.contributor.affiliationEvans, John, College of Science, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationHikosaka, Kouki, University of Tokyo
local.contributor.affiliationKitajima, Kaoru, Kyoto University
local.contributor.affiliationNiinemets, Ulo, University of Tartu
local.contributor.affiliationPoorter, Hendrik, Forschungszentrum Jülich
local.contributor.affiliationTosens, Tiina, Estonian University of Life Sciences
local.contributor.affiliationWestoby, Mark, Macquarie University
dc.relationhttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/CE140100015
local.bibliographicCitation.issue4
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage1447
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage1463
local.identifier.doi10.1111/nph.14496
local.identifier.absseo970106 - Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences
dc.date.updated2020-11-23T10:56:32Z
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-85015019638
local.identifier.thomsonID000402412500008
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dc.provenancehttps://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/15984..."Author Accepted Manuscript can be made open access on institutional repository after 12 month embargo" from SHERPA/RoMEO site (as at 28.5.2021).
CollectionsANU Research Publications

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