Aboveground and belowground trait coordination across twelve boreal forest tree species

Abstract

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.

Keywords

Boreal forest; Trait coordination; Trait-environment relationships; Root traits; Leaf traits; Within-site variation

Published in

Scientific Reports
2025, volume: 15, number: 1, article number: 680
Publisher: NATURE PORTFOLIO

SLU Authors

• Spitzer, Clydecia

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Jämtgård, Sandra

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Larsson, Marcus

  • Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Gundale, Michael

  • Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Forest Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84162-0

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/140196