Specific leaf area and dry matter content estimate thickness in laminar leaves

VILE, D; GARNIER, E; SHIPLEY, B; LAURENT, G; NAVAS, ML; ROUMET., C; LAVOREL, S; DIAZ, S; HODGSON, J; LLORET, F; MIDGLEY, GF; ET AL.

ANNALS OF BOTANY

Oxford University Press

Lugar: Oxford; Año: 2005 vol. 96 p. 1129 - 1136

0305-7364

_ Background and Aims Leaf thickness plays an important role in leaf and plant functioning, and relates to a species’  strategy of resource acquisition and use. As such, it has been widely used for screening purposes in crop science and  community ecology. However, since its measurement is not straightforward, a number of estimates have been  proposed. Here, the validity of the (SLA · LDMC)_1 product is tested to estimate leaf thickness, where SLA is the  specific leaf area (leaf area/dry mass) and LDMC is the leaf dry matter content (leaf dry mass/fresh mass). SLA and  LDMC are two leaf traits that are both more easily measurable and often reported in the literature.  _ Methods The relationship between leaf thickness (LT) and (SLA · LDMC)_1 was tested in two analyses of  covariance using 11 datasets (three original and eight published) for a total number of 1039 data points, corresponding  to a wide range of growth forms growing in contrasted environments in four continents.  _ Key Results and Conclusions The overall slope and intercept of the relationship were not significantly different  from one and zero, respectively, and the residual standard error was 0_11. Only two of the eight datasets displayed a  significant difference in the intercepts, and the only significant difference among the most represented growth forms  was for trees. LT can therefore be estimated by (SLA · LDMC)_1, allowing leaf thickness to be derived from easily  and widely measured leaf traits.