Abstract
In Neotropical forests, lianas are increasing in abundance relative to trees. This increased species richness may reflect a positive response to global change factors including increased temperature, atmospheric CO2, habitat fragmentation, and drought severity; however, questions remain as to the specific mechanisms facilitating the response. Previous work suggests that lianas may gain an ecological advantage over trees through leaf functional traits that offer a quick return on investment of resources, although it is unknown whether this pattern extends to root traits and relationships with fungal or bacterial symbionts belowground. We sampled confamilial pairs of liana and tree species and quantified morphological and chemical traits of leaves and fine roots, as well as root symbiont abundance, to determine whether functional traits associated with resource acquisition differed between the two. Compared to trees, lianas possessed higher specific leaf area, specific root length, root branching intensity, and root nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations, and lower leaf and root tissue density, leaf and root carbon (C), root diameter, root C:P and N:P, and mycorrhizal colonization. Our study provides new evidence that liana leaf and root traits are characterized by a rapid resource acquisition strategy relative to trees. These liana functional traits may facilitate their response to global change, raising questions about how increased liana dominance might affect ecosystem processes of Neotropical forests.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Rufino Gonzalez and Oldemar Valdez for field assistance and plant identification, Rick Lankau for statistical advice, Stefan Schnitzer for liana species information, Tom Maddox and Ben Turner for chemical analyses, Shialoh Wilson, Tierney O’Sullivan and Dina Abdulhadi for assistance in the lab, Kelly Andersen for comments and logistical support, and Teresa Bohner and Jake Allgeier for assistance with graphics. Funding was provided by the University of Georgia and the Odum School of Ecology, and research was conducted under a short term fellowship at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
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CGC and NW developed research ideas and designed the project. CGC and SJW conducted fieldwork and collected the data. CGC and NW analyzed the data. CGC and NW wrote the manuscript, and SJW provided editorial advice.
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Communicated by Bettina Engelbrecht.
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Collins, C.G., Wright, S.J. & Wurzburger, N. Root and leaf traits reflect distinct resource acquisition strategies in tropical lianas and trees. Oecologia 180, 1037–1047 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3410-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-015-3410-7