Published May 15, 2014
| Version v1
Journal article
Open
Which is a better predictor of plant traits: temperature or precipitation?
Authors/Creators
- Moles, Angela T.1
- Perkins, Sarah E.2
- Laffan, Shawn W.3
- Flores‐Moreno, Habacuc1
- Awasthy, Monica1
- Tindall, Marianne L.1
- Sack, Lawren4
- Pitman, Andy2
- Kattge, Jens5
- Aarssen, Lonnie W.6
- Anand, Madhur7
- Bahn, Michael8
- Blonder, Benjamin9
- Cavender‐Bares, Jeannine10
- Cornelissen, J. Hans C.11
- Cornwell, Will K.1
- Díaz, Sandra12
- Dickie, John B.13
- Freschet, Grégoire T.14
- Griffiths, Joshua G.1
- Gutierrez, Alvaro G.15
- Hemmings, Frank A.16
- Hickler, Thomas17
- Hitchcock, Timothy D.1
- Keighery, Matthew1
- Kleyer, Michael18
- Kurokawa, Hiroko19
- Leishman, Michelle R.20
- Liu, Kenwin13
- Niinemets, Ülo21
- Onipchenko, Vladimir22
- Onoda, Yusuke23
- Penuelas, Josep24
- Pillar, Valério D.25
- Reich, Peter B.26
- Shiodera, Satomi27
- Siefert, Andrew28
- Sosinski, Enio E.29
- Soudzilovskaia, Nadejda A.30
- Swaine, Emily K.31
- Swenson, Nathan G.32
- van Bodegom, Peter M.11
- Warman, Laura1
- Weiher, Evan33
- Wright, Ian J.20
- Zhang, Hongxiang1
- Zobel, Martin34
- Bonser, Stephen P.1
- 1. Evolution & Ecology Research Centre School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
- 2. ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science The University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
- 3. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
- 4. Department of Ecology and Evolution University of California ‐ Los Angeles 621 Charles E. Young Drive South Los Angeles CA 90095 USA
- 5. Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Hans Knoell Str. 10 07745 Jena Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle‐Jena‐Leipzig Deutscher Platze 04103 Leipzig Germany
- 6. Department of Biology Queen's University Kingston ON K7L 3N6 Canada
- 7. Global Ecological Change Laboratory School of Environmental Sciences University of Guelph Guelph ON Canada
- 8. Institute of Ecology University of Innsbruck Sternwartestr. 15 6020 Innsbruck Austria
- 9. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Arizona PO Box 210088 Tucson AZ 85721 USA
- 10. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior University of Minnesota 1987 Upper Buford Circle Saint Paul MN 55108 USA
- 11. Systems Ecology Department of Ecological Science VU University Amsterdam the Netherlands
- 12. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBIV‐ CONICET) and Departamento de Diversidad Biológica y Ecología FCEFyN Universidad Nacional de Córdoba CC 495 CP 5000 Córdoba Argentina
- 13. Seed Conservation Department Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Wakehurst Place Ardingly West Sussex RH17 6TN UK
- 14. Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive UMR 5175 CNRS Montpellier France
- 15. Forest Ecology Department of Environmental Systems Science Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems ETH Zürich CH‐8092 Zürich Switzerland; Facultad de Ciencias Forestales y Recursos Naturales Instituto de Conservación Biodiversidad y Territorio Universidad Austral de Chile Casilla 567 Valdivia Chile
- 16. John T Waterhouse Herbarium School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences The University of New South Wales Sydney NSW 2052 Australia
- 17. Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK‐F) Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung Frankfurt Germany; Department of Physical Geography Goethe‐University Frankfurt Germany
- 18. Landscape Ecology Group University of Oldenburg Carl‐von‐Ossietzky‐Strasse 9‐11 26111 Oldenburg Germany
- 19. Graduate School of Life Sciences Tohoku University 6‐3, Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba‐ku Sendai 980‐8678 Japan
- 20. Department of Biological Sciences Macquarie University Sydney NSW 2109 Australia
- 21. Estonian University of Life Sciences Kreutzwaldi 1 51014 Tartu Estonia
- 22. Department of Geobotany Faculty of Biology Moscow State Lomonosov University 119991 Moscow Russia
- 23. Division of Environmental Science and Technology Graduate School of Agriculture Kyoto University Oiwake, Kitashirakawa Kyoto 606‐8502 Japan
- 24. CSIC Global Ecology Unit CREAF‐CSIC‐UAB 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès Catalonia Spain; CREAF 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès Catalonia Spain
- 25. Department of Ecology Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre RS 91540‐000 Brazil
- 26. Department of Forest Resources University of Minnesota St. Paul MN 55108 USA; Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment University of Western Sydney Penrith NSW 2751 Australia
- 27. Forest Research Station Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere Hokkaido University Kita 9, Nishi 9, Kita‐ku Sapporo Hokkaido 060‐0809 Japan
- 28. Department of Biology Syracuse University Syracuse NY 13244 USA
- 29. Embrapa Temperate Agriculture Pelotas RS 96010‐971 Brazil
- 30. Geo‐Ecology Department Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics University of Amsterdam Amsterdam the Netherlands
- 31. School of Biological Sciences University of Aberdeen Tillydrone Avenue Aberdeen AB24 2TZ UK
- 32. Department of Plant Biology Michigan State University East Lansing MI 48824 USA
- 33. Department of Biology University of Wisconsin ‐ Eau Claire Eau Claire WI 54701 USA
- 34. Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences University of Tartu Tartu 51005 Estonia
Description
AbstractQuestionAre plant traits more closely correlated with mean annual temperature, or with mean annual precipitation?LocationGlobal.MethodsWe quantified the strength of the relationships between temperature and precipitation and 21 plant traits from 447,961 species‐site combinations worldwide. We used meta‐analysis to provide an overall answer to our question.ResultsMean annual temperature was significantly more strongly correlated with plant traits than was mean annual precipitation.ConclusionsOur study provides support for some of the assumptions of classical vegetation theory, and points to many interesting directions for future research. The relatively low R2values for precipitation might reflect the weak link between mean annual precipitation and the availability of water to plants.