Natural Resources, School of
ORCID IDs
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2267-6074
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3375-9630
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7003-8774
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8551-0461
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8269-7723
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5567-4200
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9627-9565
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7893-6421
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3509-8530
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5559-9151
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9053-8872
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6719-9956
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0337-5997
Date of this Version
2020
Citation
New Phytologist (2020) 228: 485–493 doi: 10.1111/nph.16771
Abstract
- Leaf reflection spectra have been increasingly used to assess plant diversity. However, we do not yet understand how spectra vary across the tree of life or how the evolution of leaf traits affects the differentiation of spectra among species and lineages.
- Here we describe a framework that integrates spectra with phylogenies and apply it to aglobal dataset of over 16 000 leaf-level spectra (400–2400 nm) for 544 seed plant species. We test for phylogenetic signal in spectra, evaluate their ability to classify lineages, and characterize their evolutionary dynamics.
- We show that phylogenetic signal is present in leaf spectra but that the spectral regions most strongly associated with the phylogeny vary among lineages. Despite among-lineage heterogeneity, broad plant groups, orders, and families can be identified from reflectance spectra. Evolutionary models also reveal that different spectral regions evolve at different rates and under different constraint levels, mirroring the evolution of their underlying traits.
- Leaf spectra capture the phylogenetic history of seed plants and the evolutionary dynamics of leaf chemistry and structure. Consequently, spectra have the potential to provide breakthrough assessments of leaf evolution and plant phylogenetic diversity at global scales.
Included in
Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons
Comments
2020 The Authors