Date of Publication: Feb 09, 2018

Author: G. Astuti , D. Ciccarelli , F. Roma-Marzio , A. Trinco & L. Peruzzi

Summary:

Insufficient attention has been devoted to inter-population and inter-individual variability of CSR strategy. Hence, we selected Bellevalia webbiana as a case study for answering the following questions: (1) is there a significant intraspecific variability in leaf traits determining a significant intraspecific variability in CSR parameters, even in a narrow endemic species with a relatively homogeneous habitat? (2) If yes, does this provide a significant intraspecific CSR strategy variation? For five populations, we calculated C, S, and R parameters using leaf area, leaf fresh weight, and leaf dry weight for 10 individuals each. We found that Bellevalia webbiana is a -œCS- species considering single individuals, populations or the -œwhole species-. However, our data suggest a significant loss of information if the species is plotted as a single average point, and attest for population-based plasticity, highlighting the applicability of CSR theory at micro-evolutionary scale. When heterogeneity in coefficients of variation (CVs) is higher for the -œwhole species-, -œdeviant- populations should be retained as additional points. Hence, we advise to perform CSR analyses on more populations and verify the applicability of a single ternary set to represent the -œwhole species- using PERMANOVA, complemented by simple CV comparison for each parameter.

Link to Full Reading:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/11263504.2018.1435576