Expanding the coverage of plant trait databases - A comparison of specific leaf area derived from fresh and dried leaves

Abstract:

Background: Specific leaf area (SLA) is a key plant functional trait, related to leaf life span, nutrient concentrations and photosynthetic rates, among other factors. However, a limiting factor in measuring these traits is that they are taken from fresh leaves. If accurate SLA measurements could be extracted from dried herbarium specimens, values for many more species could be rapidly included in large trait databases. Aims: To determine whether artificial drying of leaves could influence subsequent calculations of SLA compared to calculations using fresh leaf area. Methods: Using data from 449 leaves from 123 tropical species, we compared leaf area and SLA of fresh leaves with leaf area and SLA of the same leaves following standard pressing and drying procedures. Drying was carried out in the field using an electric heater. Results: We found a significant decrease in leaf area following pressing and artificial drying (mean decrease = 8%), but that this effect was less in larger leaves. This decrease in leaf area had no statistically significant effect on calculations of SLA for all species pooled. Comparing plant families, however, we found a significant variation in leaf area decrease (0-30%). Conclusions: We recommend that researchers continue to follow the established protocol for SLA measurements. However, given the benefits of increasing coverage of trait databases we suggest that herbarium specimens could be included, provided shrinkage is quantified and is less than the wide range of between-species variations already documented. © 2014 Copyright 2013 Botanical Society of Scotland and Taylor & Francis.

Año de publicación:

2014

Keywords:

• SLA
• Herbarium
• Tropical rain forest
• leaves
• leaf lamina

Fuente:

scopus