Linkage between leaf anatomical structure and key leaf economic traits across co-existing species in temperate forests

Leaf economic spectrum is described by key leaf economic traits, such as leaf tissue density (LTD), specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC). It has been suggested that these key leaf economic traits are associated with leaf anatomy. However, few studies have specifically investigated how leaf anatomical structure affects the key leaf economic traits across co-existing species.

Here, we examined three key leaf traits (LTD, SLA and LNC) and leaf anatomical traits of 102 species in temperate forests.

We observed that the species with high vein fraction per leaf volume/high vein length per leaf area had high LTD. In comparison with vein length per leaf area, vein fraction per leaf volume better explained the variations in LTD across co-existing species. Moreover, the species with high fraction of palisade tissue across transverse section exhibited high LNC. Additionally, a weak correlation between SLA and palisade tissue fraction across transverse section was detected, indicating that co-existing species can maximize light capture and C assimilation by both concurrently increasing SLA and maintaining relatively stable fraction of palisade tissue.

These results indicate that leaf anatomical structure may determine key leaf economic traits. The findings provide an important insight into the leaf economic spectrum from the perspective of leaf anatomical structure.