DOI: 10.5061/dryad.d2547d8db
title: Plant regeneration trait syndromes, trade-offs, and linkages to adult abundance for native and exotic grassland plants

description: Recruitment is the most sensitive plant life stage to environmental
 filters. Yet, most research linking functional traits to environmental
 filters has focused on adult plants with little known about early plant
 traits, their interactions with environmental filters, or their relation
 to species abundance. Likewise, how such relationships might vary between
 native and exotic species or influence plant invasion outcomes is unclear.
 We quantified regeneration traits for 12 native and 12 exotic (naturalized
 and invasive) forbs and evaluated trait relationships and their
 associations with species abundance across an environmental gradient in
 semi-arid grasslands. Species differentiated along two orthogonal trait
 axes suggestive of two distinct trait syndromes. The first trait syndrome,
 likely associated with competitive ability, was correlated with seed mass
 and growth-related seedling traits. Conversely, the second trait syndrome
 revealed a tradeoff between traits related to development and growth with
 traits related to resource management. This syndrome may reflect different
 approaches to seedling stress tolerance and avoidance. Neither trait
 syndromes nor mean trait values differed between native and exotic
 species, whether exotics were invasive or naturalized. Two traits and one
 trait syndrome were significantly associated with adult species abundance
 on the landscape. First, species with faster seedling maturation were
 generally more abundant. Naturalized exotic species with lower specific
 leaf area were also more abundant, suggesting a possible link between
 lower specific leaf area and greater drought survival. Abundance of native
 and invasive exotic species was greater for taxa with faster development
 and growth and thin, carbon-rich leaves, traits associated with stress
 avoidance. Importantly, the greater abundance of invasive exotics over
 other taxa was not accounted for by differences in regeneration traits.
description: # Plant regeneration trait syndromes, trade-offs, and linkages to adult
 abundance for native and exotic grassland plants Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.d2547d8db](10.5061/dryad.d2547d8db) ## Description of the
 data and file structure This readme was generated on April 15, 2025, by
 Mandy Slate. **Contact**: Mandy Slate; Ohio State University;
 [slate.41@osu.edu](mailto:slate.41@osu.edu) #### **File list (4):**
 **Slate_RegenSyndrome_sitedata.csv**       Location information with
 bioclim variables added for each of our 31 sites
 **Slate_RegenSyndrome_traitdata.csv**      Trait means and traitPCA scores
 for each of our 24 study species and 8 functional traits
 **Slate_RegenSyndrome_traitabundance.csv**     Combined site and trait
 datasets with abundance data for each of 24 species across 31 sites
 **Slate_RegenSyndrome_R.R**      R code for replicating analyses and
 generating figures; R version 4.3.0 ##### Data-specific information for
 Slate_RegenSyndrome_sitedata.csv **Number of variables**: 31 Study sites,
 19 bioclim variables, two PC scores **Variable List**: (see
 [https://www.worldclim.org/data/bioclim.html](https://www.worldclim.org/data/bioclim.html) for more info on bioclim) * SITE_NAME: study site name for each of 31 study sites * SITE_CODE: code for study site names * UTM_X: UTM X of each study site (m) * UTM_Y: UTM Y of each study site (m) * ZONE: UTM zone for each study site (no units) * ELEVATION: Elevation of each study site (m) * Long: Longitude value of each study site (degrees) * Lat: Latitude value of each study site (degrees) * mat1: Mean annual temperature of each study site (°C) * mdr2: Mean diurnal temperature range of each study site (°C) * iso3: Isothermality of each study site (no units) * tsd4: Temperature seasonality of each study site (°C) * mxtw5: Maximum temperature of warmest month of each study site (°C) * mntc6: Minimum temperature of coldest month of each study site (°C) * trng7: Temperature annual range of each study site (°C) * twtq8: Mean temperature of the wettest quarter of each study site (°C) * tdrq9: Mean temperature of the driest quarter of each study site (°C) * twrq10: Mean temperature of the warmest quarter of each study site (°C) * tcq11: Mean temperature coldest quarter of each study site (°C) * map12: Mean annual precipitation of each study site (mm) * pwm13: Precipitation of the wettest month of each study site (mm) * pdm14: Precipitation of driest month of each study site (mm) * pcv15: Precipitation seasonality of each study site (mm) * pwtq16: Precipitation of the wettest quarter of each study site (mm) * pdrq17: Precipitation of driest quarter of each study site (mm) * pwrq18: Precipitation of the warmest quarter of each study site (mm) * pcdq19: Precipitation of the coldest quarter of each study site (mm) * precipPC1: First PC for bioclim PCA * tempPC2: Second PC for bioclim PCA ##### Data-specific information for Slate_RegenSyndrome_traitdata.csv **Number of variables**: 24 species, 8 functional traits, 5 PC Dimensions **Variable List**: for trait units see Table S3 in paper * SPECIES_CODE: species code used for each species * Genus: genus name per species * Species: species name * Family: family of each species * Origin: native or exotic origin * category: N = native, W = naturalized exotic, S = invasive exotic * grform: growth form (all forb) * strategy: life-history strategy (perennial, annual, biennial) * SLA: specific leaf area (mm^2^/mg) * CtoN: shoot carbon to nitrogen ratio (no units) * seed_mass: seed mass (mg) * total_mass: total seedling mass (mg) * days_to_G: days to germination (d) * days_to_TL: days to true leaf (d) * RER: root elongation rate (mm/d) * RGR: relative growth rate (mg/d) * Dim.1: PC 1 from trait PCA * Dim.2: PC2 from trait PCA * Dim.3: PC3 from trait PCA * Dim.4: PC 4 from trait PCA * Dim.5: PC 5 from trait PCA ##### Data-specific information for Slate_RegenSyndrome_traitabundance.csv **Description**: Combined site and trait datasets with cover data added **Variable List**: Only new variables listed below, all others can be found above * NPLOTS: number of plots where species was found per site * TCOVER: sum cover across all plots per site * MOVER2: mean cover (%) across all plots per site, including those where the species was absent