Conclusions
Leaf adaptation to climate may not be limited to a single or even a few
traits but to a suite of traits representing a meaningful ‘syndrome’
that may be helpful for understanding vegetation response to climate
change without detailed analysis of each species (Wright et al. ,
2001; Reich et al. , 2003). Our results suggest that
C4 grasses adapted to low MAP exhibit greater
SDada, SR, gmax, Smesand gm, which allow for greater photosynthetic C-gain
and leaf-level WUE. Additionally, C4 grasses adapted to
low MAP also exhibit greater average leaf thickness, average VED and
BSCW but lower BSias which may lead to
lower Kleaf and transpirational water-loss. This
‘syndrome’ of C4 grasses appears important for
adaptation to drier habitats and could be useful to identify or screen
for agriculturally important C4 grasses with greater
productivities and leaf-level WUE (Sack et al. , 2016).
Furthermore, a negative relationship of Kleaf with
gm, reported in current study for C4grasses belonging to habitats with diverse MAP, warrants further
investigation as it could have important implications for modelling the
carbon and water fluxes of grasslands (De Kauwe et al. , 2015;
Knauer et al. , 2019a; Knauer et al. , 2019b).