Logging and soil nutrients independently explain plant trait expression in tropical forests

Both, Sabine; Riutta, Terhi; Paine, C.E. Timothy; Elias, Dafydd M.O.; Cruz, R.S.; Jain, Annuar; Johnson, David; Kritzler, Ully H.; Kuntz, Marianne; Majalap-Lee, Noreen; Mielke, Nora; Montoya Pillco, Milenka X.; Ostle, Nicholas J.; Arn Teh, Yit; Malhi, Yadvinder; Burslem, David F.R.P.. 2019 Logging and soil nutrients independently explain plant trait expression in tropical forests. New Phytologist, 221 (4). 1853-1865. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15444

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Abstract/Summary

Plant functional traits regulate ecosystem functions but little is known about how co‐occurring gradients of land use and edaphic conditions influence their expression. We test how gradients of logging disturbance and soil properties relate to community‐weighted mean traits in logged and old‐growth tropical forests in Borneo. We studied 32 physical, chemical and physiological traits from 284 tree species in eight 1 ha plots and measured long‐term soil nutrient supplies and plant‐available nutrients. Logged plots had greater values for traits that drive carbon capture and growth, whilst old‐growth forests had greater values for structural and persistence traits. Although disturbance was the primary driver of trait expression, soil nutrients explained a statistically independent axis of variation linked to leaf size and nutrient concentration. Soil characteristics influenced trait expression via nutrient availability, nutrient pools, and pH. Our finding, that traits have dissimilar responses to land use and soil resource availability, provides robust evidence for the need to consider the abiotic context of logging when predicting plant functional diversity across human‐modified tropical forests. The detection of two independent axes was facilitated by the measurement of many more functional traits than have been examined in previous studies.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.15444
UKCEH and CEH Sections/Science Areas:	Soils and Land Use (Science Area 2017-) UKCEH Fellows
ISSN:	0028-646X
Additional Keywords:	anthropogenic disturbance, Borneo, functional diversity, functional traits, land use, Rao’s Q, tropical rainforest, variance partitioning
NORA Subject Terms:	Ecology and Environment
Date made live:	25 Oct 2018 14:52 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/521359

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