Electronic Supplementary Material
Plant functional traits – fixed facts or variable depending on the season?
Christine Römermann, Solveig Franziska Bucher, Melanie Hahn &
Markus Bernhardt-Römermann
Day of the year
Fig. A.1 Seasonal changes in specific leaf area (SLA, in mm²·mg−1) for the selected plant species. The results of the linear model explaining the variation in log(SLA) values with species, day in the year, day in the year² and their interactions (R²=0.81, F44,291=27.95, P0.001; see Table2) were drawn separately in each of the species’ plots. For simplicity, only aggregated phenological phases are drawn: flowering (grey bar), green leaves (loosely striped) and coloured leaves (intensely shaded area). The grey bar indicates the time of flowering (from the start of phase 4 to the end of phase 8; for a definition of phenological phases please see TableA.1); the shaded area (loosely striped) shows the period when leaves were green (from the start of phase 2 to the end of phase 8); and the intensely shaded area indicates the period when leaves started changing colour (from the start of phase 7 until the end of phase 10). Phenological observations started on 15 March 2012 (day 74) and ended on 2 November 2012 (day 307).
LDMC [mg·g−1] /Day of the year
Fig. A.2 Seasonal changes in leaf dry matter content (LDMC in mg/g) for the selected plant species. The results of the linear model explaining the variation in LDMC values with species, day in the year, day in the year², vegetative phases and their interaction were drawn separately in each of the species’ plots (R²=0.83, F84,252=15.10, P0.001; see Table2). For simplicity, only aggregated phenological phases are drawn: flowering (grey bar), green leaves (loosely striped) and coloured leaves (intensely shaded area). The grey bar indicates the time of flowering (from the start of phase 4 to the end of phase 8; for a definition of phenological phases please see TableA.1); the shaded area (loosely striped) shows the period when leaves were green (from the start of phase 2 to the end of phase 8); and the intensely shaded area indicates the period when leaves started changing colour (from the start of phase 7 until the end of phase 10). Phenological observations started on 15 March 2012 (day 74) and ended on 2 November 2012 (day 307).
Fv/Fm /Day of the year
Fig. A.3a Seasonal changes in Fv/Fm for the 15 selected plant species. The results of the linear model explaining the seasonal variation in Fv/Fm values with species, day in the year, day in the year² and the interactions of species:day in the year and species:day in the year² (R²= 0.50, F44, 294= 6.55, P0.001; see Table2) were drawn separately in each of the species’ plots. For simplicity, only aggregated phenological phases are drawn: flowering (grey bar), green leaves (loosely striped) and coloured leaves (intensely shaded area). The grey bar indicates the time of flowering (from the start of phase 4 to the end of phase 8; for a definition of phenological phases please see TableA.1); the shaded area (loosely striped) shows the period when leaves were green (from the start of phase 2 to the end of phase 8); and the intensely shaded area indicates the period when leaves started changing colour (from the start of phase 7 until the end of phase 10). Phenological observations started on 15 March 2012 (day 74) and ended on 2 November 2012 (day 307).
Fv/Fm /Day of the year
Fig. A.3b Seasonal changes in Fv/Fm for the 15 selected plant species based on a subset of the data including only sampling events before day 300 and Fv/Fm values >0.6. The results of the linear model explaining the seasonal variation in Fv/Fm values with species, day in the year, day in the year² and the interactions of species:day in the year and species:day in the year² (R²= 0.41, F30,293= 6.65, P0.001) were drawn separately in each of the species’ plots. For simplicity, only aggregated phenological phases are drawn: flowering (grey bar), green leaves (loosely striped) and coloured leaves (intensely shaded area) The grey bar indicates the time of flowering (from the start of phase 4 to the end of phase 8; for a definition of phenological phases please see TableA.1); the shaded area (loosely striped) shows the period when leaves were green (from the start of phase 2 to the end of phase 8); and the intensely shaded area indicates the period when leaves started changing colour (from the start of phase 7 until the end of phase 10). Phenological observations started on 15 March 2012 (day 74) and ended on 2 November 2012 (day 307).
PI /Day of the year
Fig. A.4 Seasonal changes in the performance index (PI) for the 15 selected plant species. The results of the linear model explaining the seasonal variation in PI values with species, day in the year, day in the year² and the interactions of species:day in the year and species:day in the year² as well as vegetative phenology (R²=0.79, F85,253=10.97, P0.001; see Table2) were drawn separately in each of the species’ plots. For simplicity, only aggregated phenological phases are drawn: flowering (grey bar), green leaves (loosely striped) and coloured leaves (intensely shaded area). The grey bar indicates the time of flowering (from the start of phase 4 to the end of phase 8; for a definition of phenological phases please see TableA.1); the shaded area (loosely striped) shows the period when leaves were green (from the start of phase 2 to the end of phase 8); and the intensely shaded area indicates the period when leaves started changing colour (from the start of phase 7 until the end of phase 10). Phenological observations started on 15 March 2012 (day 74) and ended on 2 November 2012 (day 307).
Stomatal density per mm² /Day of the year
Fig. A.5 Seasonal changes in stomata density (per mm²) for 14 selected plant species (Prunusspinosa was excluded from these analyses because data on stomata density and size could not be obtained). The results of the linear model explaining the seasonal variation in log(Stomata density) values with species, day in the year² and the interactions of species:day in the year and species:day in the year² (R²= 0.85, F48,249= 29.12, P0.001; see Table2) were drawn separately in each of the species’ plots. For simplicity, only aggregated phenological phases are drawn: flowering (grey bar), green leaves (loosely striped) and coloured leaves (intensely shaded area). The grey bar indicates the time of flowering (from the start of phase 4 to the end of phase 8; for a definition of phenological phases please see TableA.1); the shaded area (loosely striped) shows the period when leaves were green (from the start of phase 2 to the end of phase 8); and the intensely shaded area indicates the period when leaves started changing colour (from the start of phase 7 until the end of phase 10). Phenological observations started on 15 March 2012 (day 74) and ended on 2 November 2012 (day 307).
Stomatal size [in µm] /Day of the year
Fig. A.6 Seasonal changes in stomata size (in µm²) for 14 selected plant species (Prunusspinosa was excluded because stomata samples could not be taken). The results of the linear model explaining the seasonal variation in log(stomata size) values with species, day in the year² and the interactions of species:day in the year and species:day in the year² (R²=0.91, F81,212=27.24, P0.001; see Table2) were drawn separately in each of the species’ plots. For simplicity, only aggregated phenological phases are drawn: flowering (grey bar), green leaves (loosely striped) and coloured leaves (intensely shaded area). The grey bar indicates the time of flowering (from the start of phase 4 to the end of phase 8; for a definition of phenological phases please see Table A.1); the shaded area (loosely striped) shows the period when leaves were green (from the start of phase 2 to the end of phase 8); and the intensely shaded area indicates the period when leaves started changing colour (from the start of phase 7 until the end of phase 10). Phenological observations started on 15 March 2012 (day 74) and ended on 2 November 2012 (day 307).
SPI[(x10²] /Day of the year
Fig. A.7 Seasonal changes in the stomatal pore area index (SPI) for 14 selected plant species (Prunusspinosa was excluded from these analyses because data on stomata density and size could not be obtained). The results of the linear model explaining the seasonal variation in log(SPI) values with species, day in the year² and the interactions of species:day in the year and species:day in the year² (R²=0.69, F48,248=11.32, P0.001; see Table2) were drawn separately in each of the species’ plots. For simplicity, only aggregated phenological phases are drawn: flowering (grey bar), green leaves (loosely striped) and coloured leaves (intensely shaded area). The grey bar indicates the time of flowering (from the start of phase 4 to the end of phase 8; for a definition of phenological phases please see TableA.1); the shaded area (loosely striped) shows the period when leaves were green (from the start of phase 2 to the end of phase 8); and the intensely shaded area indicates the period when leaves started changing colour (from the start of phase 7 until the end of phase 10). Phenological observations started on 15 March 2012 (day 74) and ended on 2 November 2012 (day 307).
Fig. A.8 Trait-trait correlations. Given are the Pearson correlation coefficients (r²) and their significances. *** P0.001, ** P0.01, * P0.05, n.s. – not significant. The trait data include the measurements for all species and all sampling days.
Fig. A.8 continued
Table A.1 Synopsis of selected phenological stages defined by Dierschke et al. (1972) that were used for monitoring the 15 selected species in the Botanical Garden.
Vegetative phases / Generative phases0 / buds not emerged / 0 / flower buds not emerged
1 / first buds / 1 / flower buds visible
2 / first leaf unfolded / 2 / buds swollen
3 / < 25% leaves unfolded / 3 / first individual flowers visible (still closed)
4 / < 50% leaves unfolded / 4 / first flowers open
5 / < 75% leaves unfolded / 5 / 25 % of flowers open
6 / > 75% leaves unfolded / 6 / 50 % of flowers open
7 / leaves are beginning to change colour / 7 / full flowering
8 / leaf colouring > 25% / 8 / flowering finishing: majority of petals fallen or dry
9 / leaf colouring > 50% / 9 / flowering finishing: all petals fallen or dry
10 / end of leaf fall / 10 / fruiting
11 / ripening and release of fruits
Table A.2: Comparisons of species rankings for each trait between sampling days (“D116”, “D123”, etc.). The upper diagonal section contains Spearman correlation coefficient estimates; the lower diagonal section contains the corresponding p-values.
Specific leaf area (SLA)
Leaf dry matter content (LDMC)
Table A.2continued
Fv/Fm
Performance Index (PI)
Table A.2continued
Stomatal density
Stomatal size
Potential conductance index (PCI)
Reference cited in this Electronic Supplementary Material:
Dierschke H (1972) ZurAufnahme und DarstellungphänologischerErscheinungen in Pflanzengesellschaften. In Van der MaarelET ,Tüxen R (eds) Grundfragen und Methoden in der Pflanzensoziologie. Springer, Den Haag, pp 291–311