Data from: Forest type and leaf habit mediate thermal and drought tolerance across a tropical elevational gradient

Understanding how local climate patterns select for thermal and drought
tolerance traits is needed to predict differential responses to climate
change across complex ecosystems. Here, we used high throughput methods to
measure traits that confer heat and drought tolerance across a tropical
climatic variability gradient, and examined how forest type and leaf habit
mediate these traits. Using standardized methods, we estimated
thermotolerance thresholds (Tcrit, T50, T95), drought tolerance traits
(water potential at turgor loss point [𝝭TLP] and osmotic potential
[𝞹osm]), and morphological traits (wood density and leaf mass per area
[LMA]) for 92 woody plant species across six sites along a tropical
dry-to-wet gradient in Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa
Rica. Among evergreen species, T95 showed a weak decline with
elevation, LMA was positively associated with both T50 and T95, and
drought tolerance increased at lower elevations and with greater wood
density. T95 was higher on average in species from seasonal dry and
ecotonal forests compared to wet forests. Evergreen species from dry and
ecotonal forests also exhibited greater drought tolerance than evergreen
species from wet forests, whereas drought tolerance did not differ among
deciduous species. Across all species, thermal and drought tolerance
traits were largely decoupled, indicating that coordination among
stress‐tolerance traits is not generalizable across tropical forest
communities.