TY - JOUR
T1 - Toward a general theory of plant carbon economics
AU - Castorena, Matiss
AU - Olson, Mark E.
AU - Enquist, Brian J.
AU - Fajardo, Alex
N1 - Funding Information:
M.C. thanks CONACYT (Mexico) Becas al Extranjero fellowship award 472328 and University Fellows Award 2017 (University of Arizona). M.E.O. thanks CONACYT (Mexico) project grant A1-S-26934 and PAPIIT (UNAM) project grant IN210719. B.J.E. thanks NSF awards HDR-1934790, DEB-1457812, and DEB-1457812 (USA). A.F. thanks ANID/FONDECYT (Chile) project grant 1190900. The authors thank four anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and the Enquist Lab for feedback on early discussions of these ideas. No interests are declared.
Funding Information:
M.C. thanks CONACYT (Mexico) Becas al Extranjero fellowship award 472328 and University Fellows Award 2017 ( University of Arizona ). M.E.O. thanks CONACYT (Mexico) project grant A1-S-26934 and PAPIIT (UNAM) project grant IN210719 . B.J.E. thanks NSF awards HDR-1934790 , DEB-1457812 , and DEB-1457812 (USA). A.F. thanks ANID/FONDECYT (Chile ) project grant 1190900 . The authors thank four anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and the Enquist Lab for feedback on early discussions of these ideas.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/10
Y1 - 2022/10
N2 - Plant life-history variation reflects different outcomes of natural selection given the strictures of resource allocation trade-offs. However, there is limited theory of selection predicting how leaves, stems, roots, and reproductive organs should evolve in concert across environments. Here, we synthesize two optimality theories to offer a general theory of plant carbon economics, named as Gmax theory, that shows how life-history variation is limited to phenotypes that have an approximately similar lifetime net carbon gain per body mass. In consequence, fast–slow economics spectra are the result of trait combinations obtaining similar lifetime net carbon gains from leaves and similar net carbon investment costs in stems, roots, and reproductive organs. Gmax theory also helps explain ecosystem and crop productivity and even helps guide carbon conservation strategies.
AB - Plant life-history variation reflects different outcomes of natural selection given the strictures of resource allocation trade-offs. However, there is limited theory of selection predicting how leaves, stems, roots, and reproductive organs should evolve in concert across environments. Here, we synthesize two optimality theories to offer a general theory of plant carbon economics, named as Gmax theory, that shows how life-history variation is limited to phenotypes that have an approximately similar lifetime net carbon gain per body mass. In consequence, fast–slow economics spectra are the result of trait combinations obtaining similar lifetime net carbon gains from leaves and similar net carbon investment costs in stems, roots, and reproductive organs. Gmax theory also helps explain ecosystem and crop productivity and even helps guide carbon conservation strategies.
KW - allometry
KW - leaf lifespan
KW - life–history
KW - metabolic scaling theory
KW - plant carbon economics
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U2 - 10.1016/j.tree.2022.05.007
DO - 10.1016/j.tree.2022.05.007
M3 - Review article
C2 - 35717415
AN - SCOPUS:85132771405
SN - 0169-5347
VL - 37
SP - 829
EP - 837
JO - Trends in Ecology and Evolution
JF - Trends in Ecology and Evolution
IS - 10
ER -