Yu Yang, Zhang Huayong, Wang Zhongyu, Liu Zhao
Research Center for Engineering Ecology and Nonlinear Science, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China.
Theoretical Ecology and Engineering Ecology Research Group, School of Life Sciences, Shandong University, Qingdao 250100, China.
Life (Basel). 2025 Aug 19;15(8):1310. doi: 10.3390/life15081310.
Plant economics is based on carbon and nutrients rather than money. While leaf strategies aboveground are well characterized along an economic spectrum from "fast-growing and short-lived" to "slow and conservative," economic models defined by aboveground shoot strategies remain unclear. Here, we offer a comprehensive view of aboveground economics and show that collaboration between shoots and stem cortical chlorenchyma can break out of the one-dimensional economic spectrum, offering a full range of economic possibilities. Trait data from 1551 current-year shoots of a single species confirm the classical fast-slow "conservation" gradient but reveal that most variation is explained by an orthogonal "cooperation" gradient, ranging from self-reliant resource acquisition to outsourced nutrient synthesis via the stem cortical chlorenchyma. This expanded "shoot economics space" provides a solid foundation for predicting aboveground responses to environmental change.
植物经济学基于碳和养分而非金钱。虽然地上叶片策略在从“快速生长且寿命短暂”到“缓慢且保守”的经济光谱上已得到很好的表征，但由地上茎策略定义的经济模型仍不明确。在此，我们提供了一个关于地上经济学的全面观点，并表明茎和茎皮层薄壁组织之间的协作可以突破一维经济光谱，提供全方位的经济可能性。来自单一物种1551个当年茎的性状数据证实了经典的快-慢“保守”梯度，但揭示出大多数变异是由一个正交的“协作”梯度所解释的，该梯度范围从自力更生的资源获取到通过茎皮层薄壁组织外包的养分合成。这个扩展的“茎经济学空间”为预测地上部分对环境变化的响应提供了坚实的基础。
