Leaf Elementomes Reveal Close Links With Leaf Water‐Use Strategies Across Diverse Forest Ecosystems: Insights From Trait Coordination and Reflectance Spectroscopy

Leaf intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) quantifies the trade-off between carbon assimilation and water loss in plants, and is constrained by leaf traits such as maximum carboxylation capacity (V<sub>c,max</sub>) and stomatal conductance. Yet, the potential links of iWUE with leaf elementomes across different forest types remain unclear. Here, we analyzed iWUE (estimated by leaf carbon isotopes) variability and its associations with V<sub>c,max</sub>, stomatal conductance (estimated by <sup>18</sup>O enrichment in leaf dry matter above source water, Δ<sup>18</sup>O), and leaf elementomes across 82 tree species from temperate, subtropical and tropical forests, and evaluated the effectiveness of leaf reflectance spectroscopy as an indicator of iWUE variability and trait-iWUE associations. Across species, V<sub>c,max</sub>, Δ<sup>18</sup>O, leaf mass per area (LMA) and leaf iron, nitrogen, sodium and manganese concentrations were the traits most strongly associated with cross-site iWUE variability. Furthermore, climatic factors (mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature and climate moisture index) shaped trait-iWUE covariation by negatively linking leaf elements and positively with LMA, which affected iWUE more directly than indirectly via V<sub>c,max</sub> and Δ<sup>18</sup>O. Leaf reflectance spectroscopy accurately predicted iWUE (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.83), and the trait-iWUE relationships derived from spectral modelling were consistent with those obtained through field measurements. These findings reveal strong linkages between the leaf elementomes and iWUE, and highlight the potential of reflectance spectroscopy for characterizing iWUE variability and trait-iWUE relationships, thereby improving process modelling of forest carbon and water cycles.

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Journal
Plant Cell & Environment
Published
2025-12-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.70323
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
1.11
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article

Leaf Elementomes Reveal Close Links With Leaf Water‐Use Strategies Across Diverse Forest Ecosystems: Insights From Trait Coordination and Reflectance Spectroscopy

Julien Lamour, Xiao Ying Gong, Nicholas G. Smith, Lucas A. Cernusak et al.
1 citations
Plant Cell & Environment
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
1.11
article

Leaf Elementomes Reveal Close Links With Leaf Water‐Use Strategies Across Diverse Forest Ecosystems: Insights From Trait Coordination and Reflectance Spectroscopy

Julien Lamour, Xiao Ying Gong, Nicholas G. Smith, Lucas A. Cernusak, Lawren Sack, Philip A. Townsend, Josep Peñuelas, Nan Yang, Jin Wu, Matteo Detto, Rossella Guerrieri, Zhengbing Yan, Kristine Y. Crous, Fengqi Wu, Xin Song, José Ignacio Querejeta, Tingting Dong, Xin Wang, Lingli Liu, W. Xu
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Leaf intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE) quantifies the trade-off between carbon assimilation and water loss in plants, and is constrained by leaf traits such as maximum carboxylation capacity (V<sub>c,max</sub>) and stomatal conductance. Yet, the potential links of iWUE with leaf elementomes across different forest types remain unclear. Here, we analyzed iWUE (estimated by leaf carbon isotopes) variability and its associations with V<sub>c,max</sub>, stomatal conductance (estimated by <sup>18</sup>O enrichment in leaf dry matter above source water, Δ<sup>18</sup>O), and leaf elementomes across 82 tree species from temperate, subtropical and tropical forests, and evaluated the effectiveness of leaf reflectance spectroscopy as an indicator of iWUE variability and trait-iWUE associations. Across species, V<sub>c,max</sub>, Δ<sup>18</sup>O, leaf mass per area (LMA) and leaf iron, nitrogen, sodium and manganese concentrations were the traits most strongly associated with cross-site iWUE variability. Furthermore, climatic factors (mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature and climate moisture index) shaped trait-iWUE covariation by negatively linking leaf elements and positively with LMA, which affected iWUE more directly than indirectly via V<sub>c,max</sub> and Δ<sup>18</sup>O. Leaf reflectance spectroscopy accurately predicted iWUE (R<sup>2</sup> = 0.83), and the trait-iWUE relationships derived from spectral modelling were consistent with those obtained through field measurements. These findings reveal strong linkages between the leaf elementomes and iWUE, and highlight the potential of reflectance spectroscopy for characterizing iWUE variability and trait-iWUE relationships, thereby improving process modelling of forest carbon and water cycles.

Plant Cell & EnvironmentVol. 49(3)
Fujian Normal University (CN), Texas Tech University (US), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (PA), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES), University of Wisconsin–Madison (US), University of California, Los Angeles (US), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), Shenzhen University (CN), Princeton University (US), Beijing Botanical Garden (CN), Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (ES), Hong Kong Biotechnology Organization (CN), Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications (ES), Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (FR), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), China National Botanical Garden, Western Sydney University (AU), James Cook University (AU), University of Hong Kong (HK), University of Bologna (IT)
Openalex Percentile: Top 17%
Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
1.11
DOISourceOpenAlex
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