Abstract ID: 259

Using material collections to investigate the functional biogeography of leaf traits Amazonia

There is a long history of ecologists using museum and herbarium specimens to analyse spatial and temporal patterns of a wide variety of taxa. In the present study, we use material collections from herbaria and flora to reveal and investigate macrogeographic patterns in leaf traits in the Amazon rainforest, and to test adaptive (evolutionary) hypotheses for the ecological function of a range of leaf traits. We discuss the challenges, biases and limitations of the employed methodology and present the results of our study of the spatial pattern of 4 leaf traits: leaf structural arrangement, leaf size, leaf shape, and leaf tip characteristics. We also test a range of leaf trait functional hypotheses related to water variable metrics and seek answers for the following questions: are compound leaves an adaptation to drought conditions? Are drip-tips an adaptation to enhance the drying rates of leaves? Is leaf size positively correlated with annual rainfall? Are narrower leaves associated with lower rainfall patterns? Finally, we critically discuss the results of this study focusing on the strengths and weaknesses of using biological collections for macrogeographycal analyses.

Session:  Biodiversity - Integration of biological collections and taxonomy with ecosystem studies.

Presentation Type:  Oral