title: Predicting trait-environment relationships for venation networks along an Andes-Amazon elevation gradient.
abstract: Understanding functional trait-environment relationships (TERs) may improve predictions of community assembly. However, many empirical TERs have been weak or lacking conceptual foundation. TERs based on leaf venation networks may better link individuals and communities via hydraulic constraints. We report measurements of vein density, vein radius, and leaf thickness for more than 100 dominant species occurring in ten forest communities spanning a 3,300 m Andes-Amazon elevation gradient in Peru. We use these data to measure the strength of TERs at community scale and to determine whether observed TERs are similar to those predicted by physiological theory. We found strong support for TERs between all traits and temperature, as well weaker support for a predicted TER between maximum abundance-weighted leaf transpiration rate and maximum potential evapotranspiration. These results provide one approach for developing a more mechanistic trait-based community assembly theory.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Blonder
authors.affiliation: Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK.|Sección Química, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, San Miguel, Lima, Peru.
authors.forename: Norma
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Salinas
authors.affiliation: Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Patrick Bentley
authors.affiliation: Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shenkin
authors.affiliation: Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Cusco, Peru.
authors.forename: Percy O
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Chambi Porroa
authors.affiliation: Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, Cusco, Peru.
authors.forename: Yolvi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Valdez Tejeira
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), CNRS, Université de Montpellier, Université Paul Valéry Montpellier, EPHE, Montpellier, France.
authors.forename: Cyrille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Violle
authors.affiliation: Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK.
authors.forename: Nikolaos M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Fyllas
authors.affiliation: Ecosystem Fluxes Group, Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, 5232, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gregory R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Goldsmith
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Robert E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Gregory P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Asner
authors.affiliation: Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK.|Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV, CONICET-UNC) and FCEFyN, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Cordoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA.|The Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Rd, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 87501, USA.
authors.forename: Brian J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Enquist
authors.affiliation: Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK.
authors.forename: Yadvinder
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Malhi
mesh_terms: D065928:Forests; D010568:Peru; D010641:Phenotype; D018515:Plant Leaves; D010944:Plants / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000145:classification
keywords: Amazon basin; Andes; abundance-weighting; community assembly; community-weighted mean; conductance; environmental filtering; functional trait; leaf thickness; trait-environment relationship; vein density; vein radius