DOI: 10.5061/dryad.t76hdr86n
title: Wood density and leaf size jointly predict woody plant growth rates across (but not within) species along a steep precipitation gradient

description: 1. Functional traits have been proposed to define key dimensions of plant
 ecological strategies, but we lack consensus on whether traits can
 accurately predict plant demography. Despite theoretical expectations, it
 has been challenging to find consistent relationships between functional
 traits and growth. 2. In this study, we quantified inter- and
 intraspecific trait variation and individual growth rates of woody plants
 across a steep moisture gradient that varies 10-fold in annual
 precipitation (350–3,700 mm) in southern Chile and used a hierarchical
 Bayesian model to predict growth as a function of trait values. 3. We show
 that large-leaved species with lower stem tissue density exhibited the
 fastest growth rates, and these two traits exhibited the highest
 proportion of interspecific variation. Predictions of growth improved
 considerably (R2 of the best model increased from 0.28 to 0.49) when
 species-level multiple traits and their interactions were considered. The
 inclusion of intraspecific trait variation (ITV), however, did not improve
 models of growth rate. 4. We found that trait-growth rate relationships
 were not always consistent across levels of biological organization;
 relationships observed at the interspecific level did not necessarily hold
 at the intraspecific level. We found that the relationships between wood
 density or leaf size and growth were consistent in direction across the
 precipitation gradient, and the relationships between leaf economics
 traits and growth were weak and site-specific. 5. Synthesis. Although
 using more than one functional trait considerably improved growth
 predictions, wood density and leaf size successfully predicted growth
 rates across (not within) species, which is consistent with a whole-plant
 carbon economy. We assert that these two traits are intimately linked and
 ultimately describe a continuum of plant architecture and carbon economy
 that covers multiple trait syndromes.
description: # Wood density and leaf size jointly predict woody plant growth rates
 across (but not within) species along a steep precipitation gradient
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t76hdr86n](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t76hdr86n) The data set corresponds to functional trait determined from plant tissues collected in the field in the Chilean Patagonia. ## Description of the data and file structure This data set represents an effort to characterize the functional trait domain of vegetation across a sharp precipitation gradient in the Chilean Patagonia. variable name and description area - climatic area: very-humid. humid, mesic, and dry site - actual site where sampling was conducted: (Puerto) Gaviota, (Parque) Aiken, Reserva (Coyhaique), and Piramide species - scientific name of the plant species family - taxonomic family to which each species belongs code - species code for analysis purposes growth\_type - growth form of the sampled species: tree, treelet, shrub individual - sampled individual within a species wd - wood density in g cm-3 lma - leaf mass per area in g m-2 lmdc - leaf mass dry content, unitless leaf\_size - mean leaf size in cm2 leaf\_N\_p - leaf nitrogen concentration in % leaf\_P\_m - leaf phosphorus concentration in um g-1 leaf\_C\_p - leaf carbon concentration in % bai - basal area increment in cm2 age - individual minimal age in years dbh - diameter at breast height in cm ## Sharing/Access information N/A ## Code/Software N/A