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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 7, 2025

Author Spotlight: Leaf Trait Analysis for Climate and Ecology Reconstruction in Modern and Ancient Plant Communities

Author Spotlight: Leaf Trait Analysis for Climate and Ecology Reconstruction in Modern and Ancient Plant Communities

Published on: October 25, 2024

Does economic optimisation explain LAI and leaf trait distributions across an Amazon soil moisture gradient?

Sophie Flack-Prain¹, Patrick Meir^1,2, Yadvinder Malhi³

¹School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.

Global Change Biology

|September 26, 2020

Summary

Leaf area index (LAI) in Amazon forests is influenced by soil moisture. An optimality-based approach using net canopy carbon export (NCE) as a fitness proxy shows observed LAI maximizes NCE, but predictive power is limited by trait trade-offs.

Keywords:

canopy dynamics fitness proxy leaf traits moisture stress optimisation tropical rainforests

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Last Updated: Dec 7, 2025

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Published on: October 12, 2015

Area of Science:

Ecology
Ecosystem Science
Plant Physiology

Background:

Leaf area index (LAI) is crucial for ecosystem function, but predicting it remains challenging.
LAI, seasonal dynamics, and leaf traits in Amazon forests vary with soil moisture stress.

Purpose of the Study:

To test if an optimality-based approach, using net canopy carbon export (NCE) as a fitness proxy, can predict LAI variation across a soil moisture gradient.
To investigate the influence of leaf traits on carbon budgets and optimal LAI strategies.

Main Methods:

Applied a process-based terrestrial ecosystem model to seven Amazonian plots with varying soil moisture.
Compared observed plant carbon budgets with simulations using synthetic LAI and diverse leaf trait combinations.
Evaluated optimality-based predictions against in situ data.

Main Results:

Observed LAI and seasonality maximized NCE, aligning with optimality predictions.
The predictive power of optimality was limited by asymptotic NCE responses to LAI.
Leaf traits fundamentally shaped carbon budgets, determining optimal LAI and NCE, with trade-offs consistent with observed distributions.

Conclusions:

Observed LAI strategies in Amazon forests are consistent with maximizing net canopy carbon export.
Leaf trait trade-offs allow for diverse, potentially equally viable canopy strategies at local scales.
Optimality-based approaches offer insights into tropical forest functioning but require consideration of trait limitations.