Discussion
Using 18 diverse C4 grasses grown under common growth
conditions, we investigated the relationship of growth habitat MAP and
MAT with leaf-level structural and anatomical traits associated with
gm and Kleaf, which in turn could
influence photosynthetic C-gain and water-loss. Many of the measured
traits correlated with MAP but not with MAT (Table 1), which supports
the previous expectations that, precipitation may be more important than
temperature in affecting trait variability and potentially
diversification in the C4 species (Edwards & Still,
2008; Osborne & Sack, 2012; Liu et al. , 2019). Furthermore, our
study provides insights into the possible relationships between
gm and leaf anatomical traits related to
Kleaf in diverse C4 grasses and suggest
that C4 grasses adapted to lower MAP exhibited traits
associated with greater gm and lower
Kleaf.