Publication at Faculty of Science |
2016
Abstract
Current understanding of functional differences among plant species is based on several key axes of specialization in response to environmental gradients, namely of productivity and disturbance. These axes include leaf economy spectrum, plant size and dispersal ability (Westoby, 1998; Westoby et al., 2002; Wright et al., 2004).
These axes are typically proxied by easily measurable traits, namely specific leaf area, height at maturity and seed mass (leaf-height- seed (LHS) traits ofWestoby, 1998) which capture well variation in a number of correlated plant characteristics (Westoby & Wright, 2006; Laughlin et al., 2010).