Wetland plants are distinguished from plants of other terrestrial ecosystems by their adaptations to specific habitat stresses, including waterlogged and flooding and the subsequent abundance of... Show moreWetland plants are distinguished from plants of other terrestrial ecosystems by their adaptations to specific habitat stresses, including waterlogged and flooding and the subsequent abundance of phytotoxic compounds. Aiming to understand the adaptive strategies and functioning of wetland plants at a global scale, this thesis compiled and analysed the currently largest global wetland plant trait database containing more than 1200 species from over 200 studies. Explorations on global drivers of wetland plant traits revealed a variety of driving mechanisms affecting the expression of different wetland-specific traits. The evaluation of the global leaf economics spectrum in wetlands revealed that wetland plants generally hold a fast-return strategy with a relatively low respiration rate due to their unique leaf structure and plant functioning. Testing the main trait axes of wetland plants revealed the existence of multiple adaptive strategies to deal with the multi-faceted wetland conditions. This thesis proposes to consider wetland-specific adaptive traits, leaf economics traits and size-related traits equally but separately in wetland ecology to understand wetland plant strategies and enhance wetland ecosystem management. Show less
Pan Y., Cieraad E., Armstrong J., Armstrong W., Clarkson B.R., Colmer T.D., Pedersen O., Visser E.J.W., Voesenek L.A.C.J., Bodegom P.M. van 2020
The leaf economics spectrum (LES) describes consistent correlations among a variety of leaf traits that reflect a gradient from conservative to acquisitive plant strategies. So far, whether the LES... Show moreThe leaf economics spectrum (LES) describes consistent correlations among a variety of leaf traits that reflect a gradient from conservative to acquisitive plant strategies. So far, whether the LES holds in wetland plants at a global scale has been unclear. Using data on 365 wetland species from 151 studies, we find that wetland plants in general show a shift within trait space along the same common slope as observed in non-wetland plants, with lower leaf mass per area, higher leaf nitrogen and phosphorus, faster photosynthetic rates, and shorter leaf life span compared to non-wetland plants. We conclude that wetland plants tend to cluster at the acquisitive end of the LES. The presented global quantifications of the LES in wetland plants enhance our understanding of wetland plant strategies in terms of resources acquisition and allocation, and provide a stepping-stone to developing trait-based approaches for wetland ecology. Show less
