Leaf venation network architecture coordinates functional trade‐offs across vein spatial scales: evidence for multiple alternative designs
Variation in leaf venation network architecture may reflect trade-offs among multiple functions including efficiency, resilience, support, cost, and resistance to drought and herbivory. However, our knowledge about architecture-function trade-offs is mostly based on studies examining a small number of functional axes, so we still lack a more integrative picture of multidimensional trade-offs. Here, we measured architecture and functional traits on 122 ferns and angiosperms species to describe how trade-offs vary across phylogenetic groups and vein spatial scales (small, medium, and large vein width) and determine whether architecture traits at each scale have independent or integrated effects on each function. We found that generalized architecture-function trade-offs are weak. Architecture strongly predicts leaf support and damage resistance axes but weakly predicts efficiency and resilience axes. Architecture traits at different spatial scales contribute to different functional axes, allowing plants to independently modulate different functions by varying network properties at each scale. This independence of vein architecture traits within and across spatial scales may enable evolution of multiple alternative leaf network designs with similar functioning.
Authors
- Samantha J. McDonough
- Mickey Boakye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6557-9928)
- J. John Mann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3082-9123)
- Mark D. Fricker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8942-6897)
- Benjamin Blonder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5061-2385)
- Nicole Yokota (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7295-2266)
- Connor Tomaka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5939-1638)
- H. D. Forbes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7487-8068)
- Ashley Chu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1096-853X)
- Ilaíne Silveira Matos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5557-5133)
- Adrian Fontao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-5683-451X)
- Jason To
- Diana S. Kalantar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-2233-163X)
- Breanna Carrillo Johnson
- James Rohde (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0283-3981)
- Meg Scudder (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4791-758X)
- Bradley Vu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4529-6828)
- Izzi Niewiadomski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9288-6063)
- Monica Antonio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0662-0511)
- Andrea Echevarria
- Lisa Garcia
- Sonoma Carlos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-7345-3224)
- Srinivasan Madhavan
- Satvik Sharma
Institutions
- University of New Mexico (US)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- The University of Adelaide (AU)
- University of California, Berkeley (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- New Phytologist
- Published
- 2024-08-23
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.20037
- Citations
- 8
- Primary Topic
- Plant and animal studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.23
Funders
- National Science Foundation