Martin and Issac quantified size-dependent variation in eight leaf traits in a single coffee genotype (Coffea arabica var. Caturra) in managed agroecosystems.
Some plants can “escape” drought stress by speeding up their life cycles, minimising water loss and allocating more resources to roots when water is available. Over half of the world’s worst weeds are annuals and occur...
Trait sensitivity to the environment is most visible during earlier stages of development, after which intraspecific trait variation and relationships may stabilize.
One way invasive species spread through an area is by harnessing variability in traits, but this doesn’t match observations of invasive species on the slopes of Mount Teide.
Native and invading plants vary differently in leaf shape in response to climate. Curiously, sometimes the native plants are more acquisitive than the invaders.
Leaf economics traits are central in understanding and predicting the effects of plant biodiversity on ecosystem functioning. Using soybean (Glycine max) – one of the world’s most widespread crops, Hayes et al. show...
How functional traits modify species niche occupancy and community assembly is a vital question in ecology. He et al. measure specific leaf area for over 5000 plants with more than 1700 observational locations.