Dataset

Biodiversity II: Effects of Plant Biodiversity on Population and Ecosystem Processes - Experiment 120

Plant traits

Years Available: 2008

Principle Investigators

Tilman, David
Reich, Peter
Knops, Johannes
Wedin, David

Abstract

In the summers of 2007 and 2008, leaf traits were measured in the Cedar Creek biodiversity experiment [E120]. Three fully mature leaves were sampled from ten individuals of each species collected within the maintained experimental plots as well as from the unmaintained experimental plots. Each individual was identified from a randomly chosen plot to cover the range of diversity treatments. Fresh leaves were scanned on a flatbed scanner on the same day as collection with petioles and sheaths removed. Leaf area, perimeter and Feret's diameter were calculated from the scanned leaves using ImageJ software (Rasband 1997-2004). This allowed calculation of perimeter per area (P/A, cm/cm-2), which is empirically correlated with leaf hydraulic conductance across a wide range of taxa (Sack et al. 2003). Perimeter per leaf area x Feret's diameter is a unitless measure of leaf lobedness Cavender-Bares et al 2006 that influences the leaf radiation balance (Givnish 1976). After scanning, leaves were dried at 65oC for three days and weighed to calculate specific leaf area (cm2/g). Seed mass was determined by collecting seed heads for ten plants per species with fully mature seeds, air drying the seed heads, and then weighing together ten seeds (and dividing by ten) to calculate a mean seed mass per plant. For five species, seed mass was taken from online commercial databases, including the Native Seed Network, Wildflower Farm Inc., and Prairie Moon Nursury. Plant height was measured at maturity from the root collar to the apical meristem or to the top of the vegetative canopy for five to ten individuals per species. Some values were also taken from the USDA Plants Database.

View All Experiment and Dataset Methods

Environmental Data Initiative data package

EDI Package ID	DOI
knb-lter-cdr.414.8	doi:10.6073/pasta/67d59b1ad2739791ced5606d7f512ae9

ATTRIBUTES

Field	Name	Definition	Unit
1	Year	Year sampled
2	Species	Species Name
3	Area_of_leaf_blade_cm2	Leaf laminar area (cm^2)	squareCentimeters
4	P/A	permeter per area (cm-1)	waveNumber
5	P_A*L	Perimeter per area times leaf laminar length (unitless)	dimensionless
6	SLA_cm2/g	Specific leaf length (cm^2/g)	centimetersSquaredPerGram
7	Seed_weight_(g)	Seed weight (g)	gram
8	height_(m)	Average plant height at maturity (m)	meter

SAMPLE DATASET

Year	Species	Area_of_leaf_blade_cm2	P/A	P_A*L	SLA_cm2/g	Seed_weight_(g)	height_(m)
2008	Achillea millefolium	9.370033333	7.625862115	1.547935759	115.5779025	0.0000625	0.9144
2008	Amorpha canescens	9.630133333	10.9203095	0.492759565	90.78938792	0.0023726	1.2192
2008	Agropyron repens	3.123133333	8.194893967	1.445975819	154.9558481	0.00182	0.79248
2008	Agropyron smithii	1.313266667	16.90121587	0.622391588	69.97630644	0.003333333	0.9144
2008	Andropogon gerardi	8.104366667	7.070340957	3.158165697	100.6045416	0.000925	2.4384
2008	Asclepias tuberosa	6.673888889	2.752107537	2.995940701	160.9413706	0.00717	0.6096
2008	Baptisia leucantha	13.33196667	2.118223517	3.439099504	107.1027548	0.0177601	1.8288
2008	Bouteloua curtipendula	3.743133333	18.30451264	1.484697073	75.48090755	0.0022178	0.762
2008	Bouteloua gracilis	0.4065	40.53563231	0.172439461	74.82292757	0.0015857	0.48768
2008	Crepis tectorum	0.2778	19.83567222	0.127682976	178.0705616	0.000171533	1.00584
2008	Elymus canadensis	11.72182057	3.87614951	75.16128824	168.5106362	0.0047	0.9144
2008	Koeleria cristata	0.726533333	41.02087959	0.31820969	35.70485863	0.0002972	0.4572

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