global meta‐analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities

• Published in: Ecology letters Vol. 18; no. 12; pp. 1406 - 1419
• Main Authors: Siefert, Andrew, Violle, Cyrille, Chalmandrier, Loïc, Albert, Cécile H, Taudiere, Adrien, Fajardo, Alex, Aarssen, Lonnie W, Baraloto, Christopher, Carlucci, Marcos B, Cianciaruso, Marcus V, L. Dantas, Vinícius, Bello, Francesco, Duarte, Leandro D. S, Fonseca, Carlos R, Freschet, Grégoire T, Gaucherand, Stéphanie, Gross, Nicolas, Hikosaka, Kouki, Jackson, Benjamin, Jung, Vincent, Kamiyama, Chiho, Katabuchi, Masatoshi, Kembel, Steven W, Kichenin, Emilie, Kraft, Nathan J. B, Lagerström, Anna, Bagousse‐Pinguet, Yoann Le, Li, Yuanzhi, Mason, Norman, Messier, Julie, Nakashizuka, Tohru, Overton, Jacob McC, Peltzer, Duane A, Pérez‐Ramos, I. M, Pillar, Valério D, Prentice, Honor C, Richardson, Sarah, Sasaki, Takehiro, Schamp, Brandon S, Schöb, Christian, Shipley, Bill, Sundqvist, Maja, Sykes, Martin T, Vandewalle, Marie, Wardle, David A, Chase, Jonathan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Science 01-12-2015; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Wiley
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Biologi; Biological Sciences; Botany; climate; Community ecology; data collection; Ecology; ecosystems; Ekologi; Forest Science; functional diversity; guidelines; interspecific variation; intraspecific variability; leaf area; leaf trait; leaves; Life Sciences; Meta-analysis; Natural Sciences; Naturvetenskap; Phenotype; plant communities; Plant ecology; plant functional trait; plant growth; Plant Physiological Phenomena; Skogsvetenskap; species diversity; Species Specificity; trait-based ecology; leaf trait; functional diversity; plant functional trait; community ecology; intraspecific variability; interspecific variation; trait-based ecology
• ISSN: 1461-023X; 1461-0248; 1461-0248
• DOI: 10.1111/ele.12508

Recent studies have shown that accounting for intraspecific trait variation (ITV) may better address major questions in community ecology. However, a general picture of the relative extent of ITV compared to interspecific trait variation in plant communities is still missing. Here, we conducted a meta‐analysis of the relative extent of ITV within and among plant communities worldwide, using a data set encompassing 629 communities (plots) and 36 functional traits. Overall, ITV accounted for 25% of the total trait variation within communities and 32% of the total trait variation among communities on average. The relative extent of ITV tended to be greater for whole‐plant (e.g. plant height) vs. organ‐level traits and for leaf chemical (e.g. leaf N and P concentration) vs. leaf morphological (e.g. leaf area and thickness) traits. The relative amount of ITV decreased with increasing species richness and spatial extent, but did not vary with plant growth form or climate. These results highlight global patterns in the relative importance of ITV in plant communities, providing practical guidelines for when researchers should include ITV in trait‐based community and ecosystem studies.