Leaf nonstructural carbohydrate residence time, not concentration, correlates with leaf functional traits following the leaf economic spectrum in woody plants

Shinichi Asao; Danielle A Way; Matthew H Turnbull; Mark Stitt; Nate G McDowell; Peter B Reich; Keith J Bloomfield; Joana Zaragoza-Castells; Danielle Creek; Odhran O'Sullivan; Kristine Y Crous; John J G Egerton; Nicholas Mirotchnick; Lasantha K Weerasinghe; Kevin L Griffin; Vaughan Hurry; Patrick Meir; Stephen Sitch; Owen K Atkin

doi:10.1111/nph.20315

Leaf nonstructural carbohydrate residence time, not concentration, correlates with leaf functional traits following the leaf economic spectrum in woody plants

New Phytol. 2024 Dec 8. doi: 10.1111/nph.20315. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Shinichi Asao^{1

2}, Danielle A Way^{2

3

4

5}, Matthew H Turnbull⁶, Mark Stitt⁷, Nate G McDowell^{8

9}, Peter B Reich^{10

11

12}, Keith J Bloomfield^{2

13}, Joana Zaragoza-Castells¹⁴, Danielle Creek¹⁵, Odhran O'Sullivan^{1

2}, Kristine Y Crous^{2

11}, John J G Egerton^{2

16}, Nicholas Mirotchnick¹⁷, Lasantha K Weerasinghe^{2

18}, Kevin L Griffin^{19

20

21}, Vaughan Hurry²², Patrick Meir², Stephen Sitch¹⁴, Owen K Atkin^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology, ARC Centre for Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, 2601, ACT, Australia.
² Division of Plant Sciences, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Building 46, Canberra, 2601, ACT, Australia.
³ Department of Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, N6A 5B7, ON, Canada.
⁴ Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, 27708, NC, USA.
⁵ Terrestrial Ecosystem Science and Technology, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Building 490A, P.O. Box 5000, Upton, 11973-5000, NY, USA.
⁶ School of Biological Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.
⁷ Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Wissenschaftspark Potsdam-Golm, Am Mühlenberg 1, Potsdam, 14476, Germany.
⁸ Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Lab, PO Box 999, Richland, 99352, WA, USA.
⁹ School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, PO Box 644236, Pullman, 99164-4236, WA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, 1530 Cleveland Avenue North, St Paul, 55108, MN, USA.
¹¹ Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, 2751, NSW, Australia.
¹² Institute for Global Change Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48130, MI, USA.
¹³ Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, Ascot, SL5 7PY, UK.
¹⁴ Geography, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy, University of Exeter, Amory Building, Exeter, EX4 4RJ, UK.
¹⁵ Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, Ås, 1432, Norway.
¹⁶ Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Building 116, Canberra, 2601, ACT, Australia.
¹⁷ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks Street, Toronto, M5S 3B2, ON, Canada.
¹⁸ Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, 20400, Sri Lanka.
¹⁹ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, 10027, NY, USA.
²⁰ Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, 10027, NY, USA.
²¹ Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, 10964, NY, USA.
²² Umeå Plant Science Centre, Department of Forest Genetics and Plant Physiology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, SE-901 84, Sweden.

PMID: 39648408
DOI: 10.1111/nph.20315

Abstract

Nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) concentrations might reflect the strategies described in the leaf economic spectrum (LES) due to their dependence on photosynthesis and respiration. We examined if NSC concentrations correlate with leaf structure, chemistry, and physiology traits for 114 species from 19 sites and 5 biomes around the globe. Total leaf NSC concentrations varied greatly from 16 to 199 mg g^-1 dry mass and were mostly independent of leaf gas exchange and the LES traits. By contrast, leaf NSC residence time was shorter in species with higher rates of photosynthesis, following the fast-slow strategies in the LES. An average leaf held an amount of NSCs that could sustain one night of leaf respiration and could be replenished in just a few hours of photosynthesis under saturating light, indicating that most daily carbon gain is exported. Our results suggest that NSC export is clearly linked to the economics of return on resource investment.

Keywords: export; leaf economic spectrum; leaf functional traits; nonstructural carbohydrate; residence time.

Abstract

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