Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42443562›Full record

ArticleNature ecology & evolution2026

Evolutionary history drives organ-specific variability in plant non-structural carbohydrates.

Wei-Ying Xu, Arthur Gessler, Josep Peñuelas, Constantin M Zohner, Michael C Dietze, Jordi Sardans, Henrik Hartmann, Matteo Detto, Jin Wu, Adam R Martin and 20 more

Erratum issuedAbstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

30 authors.

Wei-Ying XuInstitute of Botany, State Key Laboratory of Forage Breeding-by-Design and Utilization, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0009-8921-3179
Arthur GesslerSwiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
Josep PeñuelasCREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7215-0150
Constantin M ZohnerInstitute for Future Initiatives, University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Tokyo, Japan.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8302-4854
Michael C DietzeDepartment of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2324-2518
Jordi SardansCREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2478-0219
Henrik HartmannInstitute for Forest Protection, Julius Kühn Institute-Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Quedlinburg, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9926-5484
Matteo DettoDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0494-188X
Jin WuSchool of Biological Sciences and Institute for Climate and Carbon Neutrality, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8991-3970
Adam R MartinDepartment of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7207-4004
Thomas CrowtherBRANCH Institute, Zug, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5674-8913
Li-Dong MoInstitute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), Zurich, Switzerland.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3805-7638
Caroline Signori-MüllerDepartment of Geography, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1047-1896
Andreas H SchweigerDepartment of Plant Ecology, Institute of Landscape and Plant Ecology, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2656-5918
Pei-Pei ZhangChengdu Institute of Biology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mountain Ecological Restoration and Bioresource Utilization and Ecological Restoration and Biodiversity Conservation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China.
Feng-Qi WuInstitute of Botany, State Key Laboratory of Forage Breeding-by-Design and Utilization, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6512-6830
Nan YangInstitute of Botany, State Key Laboratory of Forage Breeding-by-Design and Utilization, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Yun-Peng LuoForest Dynamics, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
Su-Hui MaCollege of Ecology and Environmental Science, State Key Laboratory for Vegetation Structure, Function and Construction, Yunnan University, Kunming, China.
Xiao-Feng NiAcademy of Inventory and Planning, National Forestry and Grassland Administration, Beijing, China.
Cheng-Jun JiInstitute of Ecology, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Guo-Ping ChenInstitute of Botany, State Key Laboratory of Forage Breeding-by-Design and Utilization, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Helena VallicrosaSwiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
Nicholas G SmithDepartment of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7048-4387
Yi-Qi LuoSchool of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Owen K AtkinDivision of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology, ARC Centre for Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1041-5202
Nathan G SwensonDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3819-9767
Jens KattgeMax Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1022-8469
Peter B ReichHawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4424-662X
Zheng-Bing YanInstitute of Botany, State Key Laboratory of Forage Breeding-by-Design and Utilization, Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. zbyan@ibcas.ac.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5028-8167

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) #31922090National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) #32401379National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) #32471573
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs) serve as key metabolic substrates and carbon reserves in plants, playing a central role in regulating vegetation carbon dynamics. Despite their importance, the global distribution and underlying drivers of NSC variations remain uncertain. We compiled a database consisting of 29,386 field measurements on NSC concentrations during the growing season, covering 1,016 sites and 2,041 species, to examine organ-specific NSC patterns and disentangle the relative contributions of environmental conditions and evolutionary history. Leaf NSC concentrations increase with latitude, whereas stem and root NSC concentrations decline, linked primarily to water availability, temperature and solar radiation. The spatial contrast reflects differentiated source-sink controls on NSC storage along environmental gradients. In contrast, NSC concentrations increase with evolutionary divergence time in leaves, but decline in stems and roots. Crucially, evolutionary history explains a larger portion (55.9-77.1%) of global NSC variations across organs, surpassing contemporary environmental controls. These findings reveal the organ-specific disparity in NSC storage and underscore the central role of evolutionary history in shaping global NSC variability, with important implications for plant carbon balance and vegetation carbon modelling.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionCarbohydrate MetabolismCarbohydratesPlantsPlant LeavesPlant RootsPlant StemsCarbohydrates

Identifiers

PMID42443562

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.