Results
πtlp was considerably more negative in graminoids than
in forbs (one-way ANOVA; F1,120 = 26.86, P< 0.001; Fig. 1a). LDMC was significantly higher in graminoids
than in forbs (one-way ANOVA; F1,120 = 87.66, P< 0.001; Fig. 1b). There was no difference between the PFTs in
their SLA values (one-way ANOVA; F1,120 = 2.72, P= 0.1; Fig. 1c). Graminoids were significantly taller than forbs
(one-way ANOVA; F1,120 = 33.41, P <
0.001; Fig. 1d). No difference was observed in the
δ13C values (one-way ANOVA; F1,52 =
0.004, P = 0.95; Fig. 1e).
πtlp was strongly negatively related to LDMC (more
negative πtlp, i.e. higher leaf-level dehydration
tolerance, was coordinated with higher LDMC) and to
δ13C (more negative πtlp coordinated
with less negative δ13C, i.e. higher intrinsic
water-use efficiency) on all levels: (a) when considering all species
together (Table 1a, Fig. 2a,e), (b) within the plant functional types
with the slopes of the relationships being not significantly different
(Table 1b, Fig. 2a,e), (c) as well as after accounting for phylogenetic
relatedness (Table 1c, Fig. 2b,f).
The positive relationship between πtlp and SLA (more
negative πtlp coordinated with lower SLA) only emerged
weakly for forbs (Table 1b, Fig. 2c) and then more strongly after
accounting for phylogenetic relatedness (Table 1c, Fig. 2d).
πtlp was weakly negatively related to vegetative height
(more negative πtlp coordinated with taller species)
when all species were considered together (Table 1a, Fig. 2g). However,
the relationship disappeared completely within PFTs (Table 1b, Fig. 2g),
as well as after accounting for species phylogenetic relatedness (Table
1c, Fig. 2h).