A worldwide analysis of within‐canopy variations in leaf structural, chemical and physiological traits across plant functional types

Abstract

Summary: Extensive within‐canopy light gradients importantly affect the photosynthetic productivity of leaves in different canopy positions and lead to light‐dependent increases in foliage photosynthetic capacity per area (AA). However, the controls on AA variations by changes in underlying traits are poorly known. We constructed an unprecedented worldwide database including 831 within‐canopy gradients with standardized light estimates for 304 species belonging to major vascular plant functional types, and analyzed within‐canopy variations in 12 key foliage structural, chemical and physiological traits by quantitative separation of the contributions of different traits to photosynthetic acclimation. Although the light‐dependent increase in AA is surprisingly similar in different plant functional types, they differ fundamentally in the share of the controls on AA by constituent traits. Species with high rates of canopy development and leaf turnover, exhibiting highly dynamic light environments, actively change AA by nitrogen reallocation among and partitioning within leaves. By contrast, species with slow leaf turnover exhibit a passive AA acclimation response, primarily determined by the acclimation of leaf structure to growth light. This review emphasizes that different combinations of traits are responsible for within‐canopy photosynthetic acclimation in different plant functional types, and solves an old enigma of the role of mass‐ vs area‐based traits in vegetation acclimation. Contents Summary 973 I. Introduction 973 II. Defining the structural, chemical and partitioning controls on foliage photosynthetic potentials 974 III. Construction of a global database on within‐canopy variation in leaf structural, chemical and photosynthetic characteristics 976 IV. Methodology for analysis of within‐canopy leaf trait variation: concepts and standardizations 978 V. Global variation in leaf characteristics through the canopies 981 VI. Trait scaling with light, plasticity and quantitative limitations 982 VII. Conclusions: the economics spectrum for the within‐canopy plasticity 989 Acknowledgements 989 References 990