DOI: 10.5061/dryad.msbcc2g6z
title: Data from:Leaf and root traits show contrasting resource acquisition strategies, but converge across elevations in the Hengduan Mountain forests

description: Aim: The variations of leaf and root traits in communities are associated
 with above- and below-ground resource exploitation strategies and are used
 to infer community assembly processes along environmental gradients.
 However, little is known about variations in leaf and root traits and
 their drivers along elevations in mountain forests. Location: Yulong
 Mountain, southeastern Hengduan Mountains, Southwest China. Taxon: Seed
 plants Methods: We measured six leaf traits and seven root traits across
 47 woody species and collected environmental variables from
 forest plots along a 1,200 m elevational gradient. We employed
 linear mixed models to examine how resource
 exploitation strategies (community weighted mean, CWM) and
 functional diversity (standardized effect size of RaoQ, SES.RaoQ)
 associated with leaf and root traits varied along elevations.
 Furthermore, we determined the relative effects of environmental
 variables on these metrics. Results: We observed that the
 resource exploitation strategy of leaves shifted from an acquisitive to a
 conservative strategy (higher leaf carbon concentration) with increasing
 elevation. Conversely, root trait variation exhibited an opposite trend,
 shifting from a conservative to an acquisitive strategy (higher root
 branching intensity but lower root diameter and root tissue density) along
 elevations, potentially influenced by mycorrhizal interactions. We
 detected functional convergence for leaf and root traits across
 elevations, with a greater degree of functional convergence at high
 elevations. Leaf trait convergence was closely linked to soil nitrogen
 conditions, while root trait convergence was associated with soil organic
 carbon levels. Main Conclusions: Our results highlight that the patterns
 of resource exploitation strategies along elevational gradients are
 decoupled for leaf and root traits, with distinct environmental factors
 shaping the convergence of root and leaf traits. We argue that forest
 communities in mountain ecosystems may modify their resource exploitation
 strategies and functional diversity through varying combinations of leaf
 and root traits to improve resilience to future global change.
description: This data package contains data from the publication: Jie Song, Sebastian
 Seibold, Liang-Liang Ma, Jia-Yun Zou, Jie Liu, Ming-Shu Zhu, Wei Zheng,
 Zhi-Qiong Mo, Shengping Ming, Jin Li, Kun Xu, De-Zhu Li, Lian-Ming Gao,
 Ya-Huang Luo (2024) Leaf and root traits show contrasting resource
 acquisition strategies, but converge across elevations in the Hengduan
 Mountain forests. Journal of Biogeography. A detailed description of the
 data file is given below. With increasing elevation, leaf traits shifted
 from an acquisitive to a conservative strategy (higher leaf carbon
 concentration), while root traits showed the opposite trend, becoming more
 acquisitive (higher root branching intensity, lower root diameter and
 tissue density), possibly due to mycorrhizal interactions. Functional
 convergence of both leaf and root traits was observed across elevations,
 intensifying at higher elevations. Leaf trait convergence correlated with
 soil nitrogen, whereas root trait convergence aligned with soil organic
 carbon. **Leaf and root traits.csv** * ID: The identity of the sample -
 Plot: The identity of the lot * Elevation_belt: The elevation for each
 elevation belt of each plot （m） - Elevation: The true elevation for each
 plot (m) * Species: The species name of the sample - Thirteen functional
 traits （unit） * LT: Leaf thickness （mm） - LA: Leaf area (cm2) * SLA:
 Specific leaf area (cm2 g-1) - LCC: Leaf carbon concentration (g kg-1) *
 LNC: Leaf nitrogen concentration (g kg-1) - LPC: Leaf phosphorus
 concentration (g kg-1) * RBI: Root branching intensity (mm-1) - RPC: Root
 phosphorus concentration (100g g-1) * RCC: Root carbon concentration (kg
 g-1) - SRL: Specific root length (mm mg−1) * RTD: Root tissue density (mm3
 mg-1) - RD: Root diameter (mm) * RNC: Root nitrogen concentration (100g
 g-1)