Spitzer Clydecia M, Jämtgård Sandra, Larsson Marcus J, Gundale Michael J
Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Skogsmarksgränd, Umeå, 901 83, Sweden.
Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Linnéus väg 6, Umeå, 901 83, Sweden.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 3;15(1):680. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-84162-0.
The existence of trait coordination in roots and leaves has recently been debated, with studies reaching opposing conclusions. Here, we assessed trait coordination across twelve boreal tree species. We show that there is only partial evidence for above-belowground coordination for "fast-slow" economic traits across boreal tree species, i.e., while N content in leaves and roots were positively correlated, as well as dry matter content, root dry matter content and leaf N had no significant relationship. For resource acquisition traits (i.e. related to light capture and nutrient uptake) we did not find strong evidence for trait coordination, as specific root length and specific leaf area were not positively correlated. We further show that site only explained between 0 and 7% of the total trait variation, while within-site variation contributed substantially to the total trait variation for a large number of traits (1.6-96%), and more so for morphological root traits than leaf traits. This likely influences the strength of above-belowground trait coordination found across species in our study. Understanding sources of trait variation and above-belowground trait relationships can contribute to improving global and regional C cycling models. However, fine-scale environmental variability should be accounted for given its importance for driving trait variation.
根系和叶片中性状协调性的存在近来备受争议，各项研究得出了相反的结论。在此，我们评估了12种北方树种的性状协调性。我们发现，北方树种“快-慢”经济性状的地上-地下协调性仅有部分证据，即虽然叶片和根系中的氮含量呈正相关，干物质含量也是如此，但根干物质含量与叶片氮含量并无显著关系。对于资源获取性状（即与光捕获和养分吸收相关的性状），我们没有找到性状协调性的有力证据，因为比根长和比叶面积并无正相关关系。我们进一步表明，立地条件仅解释了总性状变异的0%至7%，而在大量性状（1.6%-96%）中，立地内变异对总性状变异的贡献很大，对于根系形态性状的贡献比对叶片性状的贡献更大。这可能影响了我们研究中跨物种发现的地上-地下性状协调性的强度。了解性状变异的来源以及地上-地下性状关系有助于改进全球和区域碳循环模型。然而，鉴于其对驱动性状变异的重要性，应考虑精细尺度的环境变异性。
