e-journal

Is leaf dry matter content a better predictor of soil fertility than specific leaf area?

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Background and Aims Specific leaf area (SLA), a key element of the ‘worldwide leaf economics spectrum’, is the preferred ‘soft’ plant trait for assessing soil fertility. SLA is a function of leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and leaf thickness (LT). The first, LDMC, defines leaf construction costs and can be used instead of SLA. However, LT identifies shade at its lowest extreme and succulence at its highest, and is not related to soil fertility. Why then is SLA more frequently used as a predictor of soil fertility than LDMC?
Methods SLA, LDMC and LT were measured and leaf density (LD) estimated for almost 2000 species, and the
capacity of LD to predict LDMC was examined, as was the relative contribution of LDMC and LT to the
expression of SLA. Subsequently, the relationships between SLA, LDMC and LT with respect to soil fertility
and shade were described.
Key Results Although LD is strongly related to LDMC, and LDMC and LT each contribute equally to the
expression of SLA, the exact relationships differ between ecological groupings. LDMC predicts leaf nitrogen content and soil fertility but, because LT primarily varies with light intensity, SLA increases in response to both increased shade and increased fertility.
Conclusions Gradients of soil fertility are frequently also gradients of biomass accumulation with reduced
irradiance lower in the canopy. Therefore, SLA, which includes both fertility and shade components, may
often discriminate better between communities or treatments than LDMC. However, LDMC should always be
the preferred trait for assessing gradients of soil fertility uncoupled from shade. Nevertheless, because leaves multitask, individual leaf traits do not necessarily exhibit exact functional equivalence between species. In consequence, rather than using a single stand-alone predictor, multivariate analyses using several leaf traits is recommended.
Key words: Ellenberg numbers, functional traits, leaf density, leaf nitrogen, leaf size, leaf thickness, relative growth rate (RGR), shade tolerance, variation in trait expression.

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Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

Annals of Botany

No. Panggil

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Penerbit

: Oxford University Press., 2011

Deskripsi Fisik

Annals of Botany 108: 1337–1345, 2011

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

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Klasifikasi

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Tipe Isi

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Tipe Media

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Tipe Pembawa

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Edisi

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Subjek

PERTANIAN.

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

Yuli/Agus

Versi lain/terkait

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