DOI: 10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jfp
title: Intraindividual variability as a large source of trait variation in tundra clonal shrubs along elevation and latitude gradients

description: Aim: Intraindividual trait variability (iITV), which is the variability
 among repeated architectural units within an individual, may represent a
 crucial dimension of functional diversity in plant eco-evolutionary
 dynamics. Although inter- and intraspecific trait variability have been
 widely studied, the extent of iITV remains largely overlooked. Since iITV
 might be especially relevant in long-lived clonal plants, we investigated
 sources of trait variability (species, site, clone, ramet, leaf) in tundra
 clonal dwarf shrubs, particularly focusing on iITV and its potential
 drivers. Location: Europe Time period: July 2019 to September 2020 Major
 taxa studied: Clonal dwarf shrubs Methods: We sampled four widespread
 boreo-alpine clonal dwarf shrub species (Dryas octopetala, Empetrum
 hermaphroditum, Vaccinium myrtillus and Vaccinium uliginosum) along
 elevation gradients in the Pyrenees, and along a latitude gradient in
 Europe. At each site, we selected four clones per species and sampled five
 ramets per clone. We measured size-architectural traits in each ramet and
 leaf traits in five leaves per ramet. We quantified interspecific,
 intraspecific and iITV, investigated the relationship between iITV and
 both climate and clone structural variables, and compared sampling
 protocols either accounting for or ignoring iITV. Results: Although
 interspecific trait variability was substantial, we found large
 proportions of iITV within species. Size-architectural traits showed
 larger iITV (up to 100% of ITV), but leaf traits also showed remarkable
 values (up to 77%). Our results showed that iITV increased with mean
 annual temperature for specific leaf area. However, climate and clone
 structural variables were not predictive for iITV for any other trait.
 Conclusions: Our quantification of iITV in clonal dwarf shrubs evidences
 the importance of this source of variability and its potential ecological
 implications and emphasises the need to integrate it in sampling
 protocols, both to avoid bias in comparative studies and improve the
 predictive capacity of trait-based approaches in population and community
 ecology.
description: # Intraindividual variability as a large source of trait variation in
 clonal tundra shrubs along elevation and latitude gradients This dataset
 was created within the project CLUNDRA and was used in the analyses for
 the accompanying manuscript "Intraindividual variability as a large
 source of trait variation in clonal tundra shrubs along elevation and
 latitude gradients". It includes the code for the analysis in R, and
 several files with all necessary data. ## Description of the data and file
 structure The compressed folder Data_CLUNDRA_2025.zip includes all data in
 separate files. Following, a short description of each file and the
 metadata. ### **File:** data_CLUNDRA.txt **Short description:** file with
 trait values. Missing data are coded as NA. *Header: Description* *
 Shrub.ID: Code for the ramet * Clone.ID: Code for the clone * Site: Study
 site along the latitude gradient * Species: Study species * Elevation:
 Elevation position within the elevation gradient * Population: Code for
 population, including information about elevation and latitude gradient *
 Clone: Clone number * Ramet: Ramet number * Leaf: Leaf number * Height
 Ramet length (as a proxy for height, cm) * Cross-section: Area of the
 cross-section at the ramet stem base (um2) * Freshweight: Fresh weight (g)
 * Dryweight: Dry weight (g) * Leafarea: Leaf area (mm2) * Leafarea.corr:
 Leaf area, units corrected for Empetrum hermaphroditum (mm2) * SLA:
 Specific leaf area (mm2/mg) * LDMC: Leaf dry matter content (mg/g) *
 Uncorr_LeafBiomass: Leaf biomass (g) - not corrected for the missing
 leaves used for SLA and LDMC * LeafBiomass: Leaf biomass (g) corrected for
 the missing leaves used for SLA and LDMC * Hv: Huber value (cm2/m2) ###
 **File:** data_climate.txt **Short description:** file with climate data
 *Header: Description* * Site: Study site along the latitude gradient *
 Species: Study species * Elevation: Elevation position within the
 elevation gradient. Hyphen indicates that there was not an elevation
 gradient sampled at that site. * Coordinate.long: Coordinate for longitude
 (decimal) * Coordinate.lat: Coordinate for latitude (decimal) * MAT: Mean
 annual temperature (°C) * TAP: Total annual precipitation (mm) *
 Temperature JJA: Mean annual temperature for summer months (June, July,
 August, °C) * Temperature DJF: Mean annual temperature for winter months
 (December, January, February, °C) * Precipitation JJA: Annual
 precipitation for summer months (June, July, August, mm) * Precipitation
 DJF: Annual precipitation for winter months (December, January, February,
 mm) ### **File:** data_clone_height.txt **Short description:** file with
 data for clone height. Missing data are coded as NA. *Header: Description*
 * Site: Study site: along the latitude gradient * Species: Study species *
 Elevation: Elevation position within the elevation gradient * Clone: Clone
 number * Clone.height: Height of the clone resulting of the average of
 height measured at 5 random positions along the clone (cm) ### **File:**
 data_distances.txt **Short description:** file including data for the
 spatial distance analysis. Missing data are coded as NA. *Header:
 Description* * Clone.ID: Code for the clone * Site: Study site along the
 latitude gradient * Species: Study species * Elevation: Elevation position
 within the elevation gradient * Population: Code for population, including
 information about elevation and latitude gradient * Clone: Clone number *
 DistanceRamet: Ramets selected for the distance calculation * Point1:
 First ramet used for the distance calculation * Point2: Second ramet used
 for the distance calculation * SpatialDistance: Number of branching nodes
 between the two selected ramets * Dist.SLA: Dissimilarity in SLA
 (difference) between the two selected ramets (mm2/mg) * Dist.LDMC:
 Dissimilarity in LDMC (difference) between the two selected ramets (mg/g)
 * Dist.LA: Dissimilarity in leaf area (difference) between the two
 selected ramets (mm2) ### **File:** data_sampling_strategies.txt **Short
 description:** file including data for the analysis on alternative
 sampling strategies and their root-mean-square errors *Header:
 Description* * Trait.mean: Population mean value for the trait * RMSE:
 Root-mean-square error for the trait * Site: Site code including
 information about elevation and latitude gradient (named as
 "Population" in the other datasets) * Species: Study species *
 Trait: Trait * Strategy.r: Sampling strategy (results2, results3,
 results4, results5), coded as "resultx" * Strategy: Sampling
 strategy (LC, RC, C-LR, C): LC = sampling strategy maximising leaves and
 clones; RC = sampling strategy maximising ramets and clones;
 C-LR = intermediate sampling strategy for leaves and ramets maximising
 clones; C = sampling strategy maximising clones. * Normalised.RMSE:
 Normalised root-mean-square error ### **File:** CLUNDRA_means.txt **Short
 description:** file with our study species trait means *Header:
 Description* * AccSpeciesName: Species name * LA: Leaf area (mm2) * SLA:
 Specific leaf area (mm2/mg) * LDMC: Leaf dry matter content (g/g) *
 Height: Plant height (m) * Dataset: Name given to our own data
 (CLUNDRAmeans) for the trait space figure * Dataset2: Name given to our
 own data separating shrub species (CLUNDRAmeansDO, CLUNDRAmeansEH,
 CLUNDRAmeansVM, CLUNDRAmeansVU) for the trait space figure ##
 Code/Software The file code_R_Anadon-Rosell_etal_2025_GEB.R includes all
 the coding for this dataset.