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The Influence of Taxonomy and Environment on Leaf Trait Variation Along Tropical Abiotic Gradients
(Frontiers Media S.A., 2020-03-03)
Deconstructing functional trait variation and co-variation across a wide range of environmental conditions should increase the mechanistic understanding of community assembly processes and improve current parameterization of dynamic vegetation models. Here, we present a study that deconstructs leaf trait variation and co-variation to iithin-species, taxonomic-interspecific, and plot-environment components comparing three tropical environmental gradients in Peru, Brazil and Ghana. We measured photosynthetic, chemical and structural leaf traits using a standardized sampling protocol, totalling more than 1,000 individuals belonging to 367 species sampled. Variation associated with the whole interspecific taxonomic component (species+genus+family) for most traits was relatively consistent across environmental gradients, but intra-specificwithin-species variation and the plot-environment variation was strongly dependent on the environmental gradient. Trait-trait co-variation was also strongly linked to the environmental gradient where the traits were measured, although some traits had consistent co-variation components irrespective of environmental gradient. Our results demonstrate that filtering along gradients is mostly expressed through trait intra- and interspecifictaxonomic variation, but that trait co-variation is strongly dependent on the local environment, and thus global trait co-variation relationships might not always apply at smaller scales.
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Untangling the evolution of body-part terminology in Pano: conservative versus innovative traits in body-part lexicalization
(Royal Society, 2022-12-09)
Although language-family specific traits which do not find direct counterparts outside a given language family are usually ignored in quantitative phylogenetic studies, scholars have made ample use of them in qualitative investigations, revealing their potential for identifying language relationships. An example of such a family specific trait are body-part expressions in Pano languages, which are often lexicalized forms, composed of bound roots (also called body-part prefixes in the literature) and non-productive derivative morphemes (called here body-part formatives). We use various statistical methods to demonstrate that whereas body-part roots are generally conservative, body-part formatives exhibit diverse chronologies and are often the result of recent and parallel innovations. In line with this, the phylogenetic structure of body-part roots projects the major branches of the family, while formatives are highly non-tree-like. Beyond its contribution to the phylogenetic analysis of Pano languages, this study provides significative insights into the role of grammatical innovations for language classification, the origin of morphological complexity in the Amazon and the phylogenetic signal of specific grammatical traits in language families.
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Improving landscape-scale productivity estimates by integrating trait-based models and remotely-sensed foliar-trait and canopy-structural data
(John Wiley and Sons Inc, 2022-08-01)
Assessing the impacts of anthropogenic degradation and climate change on global carbon cycling is hindered by a lack of clear, flexible and easy-to-use productivity models along with scarce trait and productivity data for parameterizing and testing those models. We provide a simple solution: a mechanistic framework (RS-CFM) that combines remotely-sensed foliar-trait and canopy-structural data with trait-based metabolic theory to efficiently map productivity at large spatial scales. We test this framework by quantifying net primary productivity (NPP) at high-resolution (0.01-ha) in hyper-diverse Peruvian tropical forests (30040 hectares) along a 3322-m elevation gradient. Our analysis captures hotspots and elevational shifts in productivity more accurately and in greater detail than alternative empirical- and process-based models that use plant functional types. This result exposes how high-resolution, location-specific variation in traits and light competition drive variability in productivity, opening up possibilities to fully harness remote sensing data and reliably scale up from traits to map global productivity in a more direct, efficient and cost-effective manner.
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Tropical forests in the Americas are changing too slowly to track climate change
(American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2025)
Understanding the capacity of forests to adapt to climate change is of pivotal importance for conservation science, yet this is still widely unknown. This knowledge gap is particularly acute in high-biodiversity tropical forests. Here, we examined how tropical forests of the Americas have shifted community trait composition in recent decades as a response to changes in climate. Based on historical trait-climate relationships, we found that, overall, the studied functional traits show shifts of less than 8% of what would be expected given the observed changes in climate. However, the recruit assemblage shows shifts of 21% relative to climate change expectation. The most diverse forests on Earth are changing in functional trait composition but at a rate that is fundamentally insufficient to track climate change.
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Wood density variation across an Andes-to-Amazon elevational gradient
(John Wiley and Sons, 2025)
Understanding how functional traits are related to species diversity and ecosystem properties is a central goal of ecology. Wood density is a trait that integrates many aspects of plant form and function and is highly variable among species. Previous studies of wood density across elevational gradients have been based on limited sampling and have reported declines with increasing elevation, though even this simple pattern remains unknown, much less its underlying functional and evolutionary relationships. Here, we use one of the longest and most speciose elevational gradients in the world, extending from the Andean tree line to the Amazon basin, to test the extent to which elevation, species composition, phylogenetic affinity and forest structure determine variation in wood density. Using field‐collected wood samples and global databases, we assigned wood density to 1231 species and 31,330 stems across 41 (47.5 ha) mature forest plots arrayed across a 3500‐m vertical gradient. Our results show that mean wood density, either weighted by abundance, basal area or species, was highly variable but tended to decline from low to middle elevations and increase again from mid‐elevations to the tree line. As a result of this non‐linearity, forests at the Andean tree line had higher wood density than their lowland Amazon counterparts. We observed an abrupt transition in wood density at the lower limit of persistent cloud formation (cloud base), where the lowest wood density values were found. The decline of wood density is attributed to a significant shift in life forms, with an abundance of tree ferns at middle elevations and a higher probability of landslides and disturbances favouring a suite of traits associated with low wood density, such as softer wood and higher elasticity. Species turnover explained most of the among‐species variation across the gradient, with elevation having no consistent effect on within‐species variation in wood density. Together, both gradual compositional changes and sharp local changes in the importance of non‐dicot life forms, such as arborescent ferns and palms, define patterns of forest‐level carbon density, with wood density per se controlling ecosystem properties, such as carbon flux, across the Andes‐to‐Amazon elevational gradient.
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Plant functional traits shape the provision of ecosystem services to Indigenous communities in western Amazonia
(John Wiley and Sons, 2025)
1.-Context. Exploring how Indigenous People interact with plants through their functional traits allows us to understand the ecological bases of plant selection. Functional traits can help explain why certain plants are consistently chosen for specific purposes across diverse cultural contexts. However, these relationships are complex and remain insufficiently explored. Here, we ask (1) which functional traits are most important in shaping different uses? and (2) do similarities in trait–use associations across Indigenous communities reflect patterns of knowledge convergence?. 2.-Methods. We conducted fieldwork across nine different Indigenous communities spanning a 1800 km distance in western Amazonia. In total, we sampled 115 0.1-ha plots, recording the abundance of 1856 woody plant species. For these species, we collected data on 13 different functional traits, primarily measured in the field, with additional values sourced from TRY and other databases, and conducted in situ ethnobotanical interviews with 25 Indigenous male participants, focusing on 14 distinct use categories. We analysed (1) trait–use relationships using generalized linear models and (2) the similarity in trait selection for each use across communities using generalized linear mixed models. 3.-Results. Plants used for medicine or food were associated with multiple traits, including reproductive traits, exudates and life form. In contrast, culturally specific uses such as rituals, cosmetics or recreational were linked to more specific traits, particularly wood density and lianas. Across communities, we observed widespread convergence in trait–use associations, suggesting shared patterns of plant use despite cultural differences. However, 24% of the trait–use combinations showed divergence, indicating local adaptation or cultural specificity. Synthesis and applications. Plant selection by Indigenous communities is not random; rather, it is guided by functional traits that consistently support human well-being. We named this pattern ‘functional selection convergence’, highlighting how ecological function and traditional knowledge interact across distinct cultural contexts. This convergence shows the importance of functional ecology explaining traditional plant selection. Our findings are a call for a trait-based ethnobotanical approach to document and better preserve the ecosystem services essential to Indigenous livelihoods. Nevertheless, we emphasize the need for future research to involve broader and more diverse ethnobotanical participation.
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