ArticleNature ecology & evolution2022
Climatic and soil factors explain the two-dimensional spectrum of global plant trait variation.
Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 102 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
102 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Acquisitive plants exhibit stronger phenological shifts in response to warming: insights from meta-analysis and long-term monitoring.Nature communications · 2026Pooled it
- A trait-based integration of competition and abiotic tolerance underlies plant success.The New phytologist · 2026Article
- Spatially explicit forecasts of tree insect and disease incidence across North American forests under future climate scenarios.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Phylogenetic Constraints and Environmental Filtering Jointly Drive Adaptive Evolution inEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Mycorrhizal strategy of non-native plants varies with biome and disturbance.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Biogeographical variation of angiosperm taxonomic traits exhibits a globally consistent structure.Nature plants · 2026Article
- Leaf-Root Trait Coordination Among Dominant Herbaceous Species Across Three Marsh Habitats in Northeast China.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Physiological responses of Robinia pseudoacacia L. of different origins to soil nitrogen supply.Plant biology (Stuttgart, Germany) · 2026Article
- Plant Species With an Acquisitive Resource-Use Strategy Exhibit Lower Wood Density and Display Greater Intraspecific Variation.Plant, cell & environment · 2026Article
- Petioles Occupy a Partly Distinct Functional Spectrum From Laminae in Broadleaved Woody Plants.Plant, cell & environment · 2026Article
- Biogeography of community canopy leaf traits and their links to global forest photosynthesis.Science advances · 2026Article
- Article
- Crown architecture traits mediate shade tolerance-dependent trade-offs and neighborhood interactions in a subtropical forest.Plant diversity · 2026Article
- Automated extraction of leaf mass per area from digitized herbarium specimens.The New phytologist · 2026Article
- Functional traits mediate the effects of soil property on the growth performance of Ardisia gigantifolia cuttings.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
- Differentiable land model reveals global environmental controls on latent ecological functions.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Functional group classification using consensus clustering.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Fern Gametophytes Exhibit Distinct Patterns of Niche Expansion and Convergence in Ecophysiological Functioning.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Edge effect influences the ecological strategies of plant communities in tropical forest fragments.Plant biology (Stuttgart, Germany) · 2026Article
- From environment to biomass: trait-mediated effects on submerged macrophyte biomass in a subtropical shallow restored lake.BMC plant biology · 2026Article
42 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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41 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Plant functional traits can predict community assembly and ecosystem functioning and are thus widely used in global models of vegetation dynamics and land-climate feedbacks. Still, we lack a global understanding of how land and climate affect plant traits. A previous global analysis of six traits observed two main axes of variation: (1) size variation at the organ and plant level and (2) leaf economics balancing leaf persistence against plant growth potential. The orthogonality of these two axes suggests they are differently influenced by environmental drivers. We find that these axes persist in a global dataset of 17 traits across more than 20,000 species. We find a dominant joint effect of climate and soil on trait variation. Additional independent climate effects are also observed across most traits, whereas independent soil effects are almost exclusively observed for economics traits. Variation in size traits correlates well with a latitudinal gradient related to water or energy limitation. In contrast, variation in economics traits is better explained by interactions of climate with soil fertility. These findings have the potential to improve our understanding of biodiversity patterns and our predictions of climate change impacts on biogeochemical cycles.
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