Life Sciences Commons^™

Global Patterns Of Leaf Mechanical Properties, Yusuke Onoda, Mark Westoby, Peter Adler, Amy Choong, Fiona Clissold, Johannes Cornelissen, Sandra Díaz, Nathaniel Dominy, Alison Elgart, Lucas Enrico, Paul Fine, Jerome Howard, Adel Jalili, Kaoru Kitajima, Hiroko Kurokawa, Clare Mcarthur, Peter Lucas, Lars Markesteijn, Natalia Pérez-Harguindeguy, Lourens Poorter, Lora Richards, Louis Santiago, Enio Sosinski, Sunshine Van Bael, David Warton, Ian Wright, S. Wright, Nayuta Yamashita

Jerome J. Howard

Leaf mechanical properties strongly influence leaf lifespan, plant–herbivore interactions, litter decomposition and nutrient cycling, but global patterns in their interspecific variation and underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. We synthesize data across the three major measurement methods, permitting the first global analyses of leaf mechanics and associated traits, for 2819 species from 90 sites worldwide. Key measures of leaf mechanical resistance varied c. 500–800-fold among species. Contrary to a long-standing hypothesis, tropical leaves were not mechanically more resistant than temperate leaves. Leaf mechanical resistance was modestly related to rainfall and local light environment. By partitioning leaf mechanical resistance into three different …