Phylogenetic conservatism in the relationship between functional and demographic characteristics in Amazon tree taxa

Sanchez‐Martinez, Pablo; Dexter, Kyle G.; Draper, Freddie C.; Baraloto, Chris; Leão do Amaral, Iêda; de Souza Coelho, Luiz; de Almeida Matos, Francisca Dionízia; de Andrade Lima Filho, Diógenes; Salomão, Rafael P.; Wittmann, Florian; Castilho, Carolina V.; de Jesus Veiga Carim, Marcelo; Guevara, Juan Ernesto; Phillips, Oliver L.; Magnusson, William E.; Sabatier, Daniel; Cardenas Revilla, Juan David; Molino, Jean‐François; Irume, Mariana Victória; Pires Martins, Maria; da Silva Guimarães, José Renan; Ferreira Ramos, José; Bánki, Olaf S.; Fernandez Piedade, Maria Teresa; Cárdenas López, Dairon; Pitman, Nigel C. A.; Demarchi, Layon O.; Schöngart, Jochen; Garcia Luize, Bruno; Moraes de Leão Novo, Evlyn Márcia; Núñez Vargas, Percy; Freire Silva, Thiago Sanna; Martins Venticinque, Eduardo; Manzatto, Angelo Gilberto; Costa Reis, Neidiane Farias; Terborgh, John; Casula, Katia Regina; Honorio Coronado, Euridice N.; Monteagudo Mendoza, Abel; Montero, Juan Carlos; Costa, Flávia R. C.; Feldpausch,...

Abstract

Leaf and wood functional traits of trees are related to growth, reproduction, and survival, but the degree of phylogenetic conservatism in these relationships is largely unknown. In this study, we describe the variability of strategies involving leaf, wood and demographic characteristics for tree genera distributed across the Amazon Region, and quantify phylogenetic signal for the characteristics and their relationships. Leaf and wood traits are aligned with demographic variables along two main axes of variation. The first axis represents the coordination of leaf traits describing resource uptake and use, wood density, seed mass, and survival. The second axis represents the coordination between size and growth. Both axes show strong phylogenetic signal, suggesting a constrained evolution influenced by ancestral values, yet the second axis also has an additional, substantial portion of its variation that is driven by functional correlations unrelated to phylogeny, suggesting simultaneously higher evolutionary lability and coordination. Synthesis. Our results suggest that life history strategies of tropical trees are generally phylogenetically conserved, but that tree lineages may have some capability of responding to environmental changes by modulating their growth and size. Overall, we provide the largest-scale synopsis of functional characteristics of Amazonian trees, showing substantial nuance in the evolutionary patterns of individual characteristics and their relationships. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Citation

Sanchez‐Martinez, P., Dexter, K. G., Draper, F. C., Baraloto, C., Leão do Amaral, I., de Souza Coelho, L., de Almeida Matos, F. D., de Andrade Lima Filho, D., Salomão, R. P., Wittmann, F., Castilho, C. V., de Jesus Veiga Carim, M., Guevara, J. E., Phillips, O. L., Magnusson, W. E., Sabatier, D., Cardenas Revilla, J. D., Molino, J., Irume, M. V., Pires Martins, M., …ter Steege, H. (2024). Phylogenetic conservatism in the relationship between functional and demographic characteristics in Amazon tree taxa. Functional Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14700

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 24, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Nov 28, 2024
• Publication Date: Nov 28, 2024
• Deposit Date: Dec 10, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 20, 2024
• Journal: Functional Ecology
• Print ISSN: 0269-8463
• Electronic ISSN: 1365-2435
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14700
• Keywords: ecophysiology; functional traits; life history; macroecology; phylogenetic conservatism; tree physiology; tropical ecology
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/42594605
• Publisher URL: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.14700
• Additional Information: Received: 2024-04-11; Accepted: 2024-09-24; Published: 2024-11-28