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The importance of trait selection in ecology

Nature volume 618, pages E29–E30 (2023)Cite this article

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Matters Arising to this article was published on 28 June 2023

The Original Article was published on 29 September 2021

arising from C. P. Carmona et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03871-y (2021)

Two recent publications1,2 have explored the importance of roots for understanding plant form and function, but reached opposite conclusions on the basis of largely overlapping data. Carmona et al.1 concluded that their results “do not confirm the strong covariation between leaf and fine-root traits predicted by the plant economics spectrum hypothesis”. By contrast, Weigelt et al.2 concluded that “key leaf and fine-root traits were aligned along the expected [fast–slow] ‘conservation’ gradient of plant economic investment”. Here we reflect on the causes for the apparent discrepancies of these studies and show that the rationale behind trait selection is vital for the conclusions.

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Fig. 1: PCA of the 301 species analysed in Carmona et al.1 using differing trait subsets and no varimax rotation.

Data availability

The data to reproduce Fig. 1 and Supplementary Table 1 are available according to the statement in Carmona et al.1 in the Figshare repository: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13140146.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Alexandra Weigelt, Liesje Mommer

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Systematic Botany and Functional Biodiversity, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany

    Alexandra Weigelt, Karl Andraczek & Fons van der Plas

  2. German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Alexandra Weigelt, Helge Bruelheide, Jens Kattge & Francesco Maria Sabatini

  3. Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Liesje Mommer, Fons van der Plas & Jasper van Ruijven

  4. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Climate Change Science Institute and Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Colleen M. Iversen

  5. Sustainable Grassland Systems, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Paulinenaue, Germany

    Joana Bergmann

  6. Institute of Biology/Geobotany and Botanical Garden, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany

    Helge Bruelheide & Francesco Maria Sabatini

  7. Theoretical and Experimental Ecology Station (SETE), National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Moulis, France

    Grégoire T. Freschet

  8. Biodiversity, Macroecology and Biogeography, Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology, University of Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany

    Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramírez

  9. Functional Biogeography, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany

    Jens Kattge

  10. Soil Biology Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Thom W. Kuyper

  11. Department of Botany, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

    Daniel C. Laughlin

  12. Functional Forest Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Hamburg, Barsbüttel-Willinghusen, Germany

    Ina C. Meier

  13. Plant Sciences (IBG-2), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany

    Hendrik Poorter

  14. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South Wales, Australia

    Hendrik Poorter

  15. CEFE, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France

    Catherine Roumet

  16. Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Alma Mater Studiorum–University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Francesco Maria Sabatini

  17. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Marina Semchenko & Christopher J. Sweeney

  18. Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Marina Semchenko

  19. Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre, Syngenta, Bracknell, UK

    Christopher J. Sweeney

  20. Institute of Environment, Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Oscar J. Valverde-Barrantes

  21. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Center for Bioenergy Innovation and Biosciences Division, Oak Ridge, TN, USA

    Larry M. York

  22. The Root Lab, Center for Tree Science, The Morton Arboretum, Lisle, IL, USA

    M. Luke McCormack

Authors
  1. Alexandra Weigelt
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  2. Liesje Mommer
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  3. Karl Andraczek
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  4. Colleen M. Iversen
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  5. Joana Bergmann
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  6. Helge Bruelheide
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  7. Grégoire T. Freschet
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  8. Nathaly R. Guerrero-Ramírez
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  9. Jens Kattge
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  10. Thom W. Kuyper
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  11. Daniel C. Laughlin
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  12. Ina C. Meier
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  13. Fons van der Plas
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  14. Hendrik Poorter
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  15. Catherine Roumet
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  16. Jasper van Ruijven
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  17. Francesco Maria Sabatini
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  18. Marina Semchenko
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  19. Christopher J. Sweeney
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  20. Oscar J. Valverde-Barrantes
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  21. Larry M. York
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  22. M. Luke McCormack
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Contributions

A.W., L.M., K.A., C.M.I., J.B., H.B., G.T.F., N.R.G.-R., J.K., T.W.K., D.C.L., I.C.M., F.v.d.P., H.P., C.R., J.v.R., F.M.S., M.S., C.J.S., O.J.V.-B., L.M.Y. and M.L.M. discussed the results and contributed to the text. K.A. produced the figure.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra Weigelt.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

Analysis of the complete dataset (301 species) with full information for all traits based on species mean trait data.

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Weigelt, A., Mommer, L., Andraczek, K. et al. The importance of trait selection in ecology. Nature 618, E29–E30 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06148-8

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