PNNL

Abstract

The majority of trait variation among global plant species can be explained by just two dimensions, corresponding to strategies of resource acquisition and plant size. However, our current understanding of trait variation is primarily based upon temperate and tropical data, and assumes that the majority of trait variation occurs among species. Thus, it is unknown whether global trait relationships extend to the climatic extremes of life on earth, and if relationships are confounded by trait variation within species. We tested these questions across six ecologically important and globally well-sampled traits using the largest database of tundra plant traits ever compiled. We demonstrate that tundra plants revealed remarkable consistency in the range of resource acquisition traits, but not size traits, compared to global trait distributions, and exhibited the same two-axis spectrum of trait-expression. The majority (76.8%) of trait variation occurred among species, in line with global estimates, but within-species variation comprised a greater proportion of trait variation at local scales (