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Updated: May 12, 2026

Relating Stomatal Conductance to Leaf Functional Traits
Published on: October 12, 2015
Global leaf trait relationships: mass, area, and the leaf economics spectrum
Jeanne L D Osnas1, Jeremy W Lichstein, Peter B Reich
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08542, USA. jldosnas@gmail.com
Abstract:
The leaf economics spectrum (LES) describes multivariate correlations that constrain leaf traits of plant species primarily to a single axis of variation if data are normalized by leaf mass. We show that these traits are approximately distributed proportional to leaf area instead of mass, as expected for a light- and carbon dioxide-collecting organ. Much of the structure in the mass-normalized LES results from normalizing area-proportional traits by mass. Mass normalization induces strong correlations among area-proportional traits because of large variation among species in leaf mass per area (LMA). The high LMA variance likely reflects its functional relationship with leaf life span. A LES that is independent of mass- or area-normalization and LMA reveals physiological relationships that are inconsistent with those in global vegetation models designed to address climate change.
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