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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 24, 2025

Experimental Protocol for Manipulating Plant-induced Soil Heterogeneity

Experimental Protocol for Manipulating Plant-induced Soil Heterogeneity

Published on: March 13, 2014

Leaf-level coordination principles propagate to the ecosystem scale.

Ulisse Gomarasca¹, Mirco Migliavacca², Jens Kattge³

¹Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany. ugomar@bgc-jena.mpg.de.

Nature Communications

|July 4, 2023

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Plant trait trade-offs observed at the leaf scale also apply to ecosystem processes. This research confirms that the leaf economics spectrum and other theories extend to the ecosystem level, improving vegetation models.

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Last Updated: Jul 24, 2025

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Published on: March 13, 2014

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Published on: October 16, 2018

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Ecosystem Science
Plant Biology

Background:

Plant traits exhibit trade-offs related to resource use at the leaf level.
It remains unclear if these leaf-scale trade-offs influence ecosystem-level processes.
Existing theories like the leaf economics spectrum and least-cost hypothesis describe plant trait coordination.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if trait correlation patterns predicted by leaf- and plant-level theories propagate to the ecosystem level.
To test the applicability of the leaf economics spectrum, global spectrum of plant form and function, and least-cost hypothesis at the ecosystem scale.
To identify scale-emergent properties in ecosystem functional traits.

Main Methods:

Utilized ecosystem functional properties from FLUXNET sites.
Incorporated vegetation properties and community mean plant traits.
Applied principal component analyses to examine trait correlations across scales.

Main Results:

Confirmed that the leaf economics spectrum, global spectrum of plant form and function, and least-cost hypothesis all propagate to the ecosystem level.
Demonstrated trait correlation patterns at the ecosystem scale mirroring those at finer scales.
Identified evidence of additional scale-emergent properties beyond established theories.

Conclusions:

Leaf- and plant-level trait coordination theories are applicable to ecosystem processes.
Understanding ecosystem functional property coordination is crucial for improving dynamic vegetation models.
This research provides empirical data to reduce uncertainties in climate change projections.