Distribution of leaflet traits across different habitats: a phylogenetically controlled test using Neotropical palms

ABSTRACT

Background

Traits associated with resource acquisition and use are related to current or past environmental conditions. Consequently, similar environments are occupied by closely related lineages or by different lineages that have converged to occupy them. Understanding how functional traits vary in relation to environmental gradients facilitates a more predictive ecology of the Anthropocene.

Aims:

We investigated whether leaflet traits of palm species are phylogenetically conserved and how this influences their distribution in the Neotropics.

Methods

We measured specific leaflet area (SLA) and leaf thickness in 79 Neotropical palm species. We then assessed the relationship between these variables and their distribution at different habitat type scales using phylogenetically controlled linear mixed models.

Results

Phylogenetically close species showed greater similarities in SLA and lower similarities in leaflet thickness than expected from their phylogenetic relationships. Species from open habitats and forest canopy species had thick leaves and low SLA, while the opposite was found for understorey species.

Conclusions

Phylogenetic conservatism in SLA combined with phylogenetic divergence in leaflet thickness reveals leaflet trade-off strategies in palms and is related to their distribution in the Neotropics. Anthropogenic impacts may threaten understorey species in particular, which in the long-term may cause homogenisation of palm communities and loss of functional diversity.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate
• convergence
• divergence
• forest strata
• leaf thickness
• specific leaf area

Acknowledgments

We are indebted to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew for all logistical and financial assistance during Oda’s stay in the UK. We also thank the Palm Group for their receptivity and assistance with work. Financial support was provided by: (i) CNPq fellowship to GAO; (ii) Support for Internationalization (PROPPG/UFRRJ); (iii) European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 706011 (PalmHydraulics); (iv) research fellowships from CNPq and FAPERJ to ASP. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001. We are indebted to Drs. Laszlo Nagy and Simon Queenborough, and the reviewers who provided detailed reviews of the various versions and helped improve the manuscript for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2023.2291044.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior [88887.476060/2020-00]; HORIZON EUROPE Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions [706011].