title: Different leaf cost-benefit strategies of ferns distributed in contrasting light habitats of sub-tropical forests.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ferns are abundant in sub-tropical forests in southern China, with some species being restricted to shaded understorey of natural forests, while others are widespread in disturbed, open habitats. To explain this distribution pattern, we hypothesize that ferns that occur in disturbed forests (FDF) have a different leaf cost-benefit strategy compared with ferns that occur in natural forests (FNF), with a quicker return on carbon investment in disturbed habitats compared with old-growth forests.
  
  
  METHODS
  We chose 16 fern species from contrasting light habitats (eight FDF and eight FNF) and studied leaf functional traits, including leaf life span (LLS), specific leaf area (SLA), leaf nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations (N and P), maximum net photosynthetic rates (A), leaf construction cost (CC) and payback time (PBT), to conduct a leaf cost-benefit analysis for the two fern groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The two groups, FDF and FNF, did not differ significantly in SLA, leaf N and P, and CC, but FDF had significantly higher A, greater photosynthetic nitrogen- and phosphorus-use efficiencies (PNUE and PPUE), and shorter PBT and LLS compared with FNF. Further, across the 16 fern species, LLS was significantly correlated with A, PNUE, PPUE and PBT, but not with SLA and CC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrate that leaf cost-benefit analysis contributes to understanding the distribution pattern of ferns in contrasting light habitats of sub-tropical forests: FDF employing a quick-return strategy can pre-empt resources and rapidly grow in the high-resource environment of open habitats; while a slow-return strategy in FNF allows their persistence in the shaded understorey of old-growth forests.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 723 Xingke Road, Guangzhou 510650, China.
authors.forename: Shi-Dan
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 723 Xingke Road, Guangzhou 510650, China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan road, Beijing 100049, China and.
authors.forename: Rong-Hua
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 723 Xingke Road, Guangzhou 510650, China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan road, Beijing 100049, China and.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 723 Xingke Road, Guangzhou 510650, China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19A Yuquan road, Beijing 100049, China and.
authors.forename: Peng-Cheng
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 723 Xingke Road, Guangzhou 510650, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, 224 Helsingin Yliopisto, Finland.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Berninger
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 723 Xingke Road, Guangzhou 510650, China, qye@scbg.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Ye
mesh_terms: D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000494:pharmacology; D019069:Cell Respiration / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D017753:Ecosystem; D029624:Ferns / Q000528:radiation effects*; D065928:Forests; D008027:Light; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000378:metabolism; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D014329:Tropical Climate
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Leaf construction cost; leaf life span; light environment; payback time; photosynthesis