Leaf Dry Matter Content Is Phylogenetically Conserved and Related to Environmental Conditions, Especially Wildfire Activity

Dachuan Dai; Dongli Yu; Wuchao Gao; George L W Perry; Adrian M Paterson; Chengming You; Shixing Zhou; Zhenfeng Xu; Congde Huang; Dongyu Cao; Timothy J Curran; Xinglei Cui

doi:10.1111/ele.70056

Leaf Dry Matter Content Is Phylogenetically Conserved and Related to Environmental Conditions, Especially Wildfire Activity

Ecol Lett. 2025 Jan;28(1):e70056. doi: 10.1111/ele.70056.

Authors

Dachuan Dai^{1

2}, Dongli Yu^{1

2}, Wuchao Gao^{1

2}, George L W Perry³, Adrian M Paterson⁴, Chengming You^{1

2}, Shixing Zhou^{1

2}, Zhenfeng Xu^{1

2

5}, Congde Huang^{1

2}, Dongyu Cao^{1

2}, Timothy J Curran⁴, Xinglei Cui^{1

2

5}

Affiliations

¹ National Forestry and Grassland Administration Engineering Research Centre for Southwest Forest and Grassland Fire Ecological Prevention, College of Forestry, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, China.
² National Forestry and Grassland Administration Key Laboratory of Forest Resources Conservation and Ecological Safety on the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River & Forestry Ecological Engineering in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Chengdu, China.
³ School of Environment, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
⁴ Department of Pest-Management and Conservation, Lincoln University, Lincoln, New Zealand.
⁵ Sichuan Mt. Emei Forest Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Emei, China.

PMID: 39755937
DOI: 10.1111/ele.70056

Abstract

Leaf dry matter content (LDMC) is an important determinant of plant flammability. Investigating global patterns of LDMC could provide insights into worldwide plant flammability patterns, informing wildfire management. We characterised global patterns of LDMC across 4074 species from 216 families, revealing that phylogenetic and environmental constraints influence LDMC. LDMC varied across growth forms and taxonomic groups, displaying phylogenetic niche conservatism. Temperature, precipitation, aridity index, soil total nitrogen content and wildfire activity affected LDMC, and the effect of wildfire activity was stronger than other environmental factors across species with postfire regeneration abilities. Such species had higher LDMC, and their LDMC was less phylogenetically conserved and more strongly associated with fire activity. Our results suggest that, although LDMC shows phylogenetic niche conservatism, LDMC is determined by environmental factors, especially wildfire activity. Wildfire has likely acted as a selective pressure towards high LDMC across species that persist through fire using postfire regeneration.

Keywords: leaf dry matter content; phylogeny; plant flammability; wildfire activity.

Publication types

Letter

MeSH terms

Ecosystem
Fires
Phylogeny*
Plant Leaves* / physiology
Plants
Wildfires*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding