Data from: Are ecophysiological adaptive traits decoupled from leaf economics traits in wetlands?

Wetland plants have developed a suite of traits, such as aerenchyma,
radial oxygen loss, and leaf gas films, to adapt to wetland environment
featured by e.g. a low redox potential and a lack of electron acceptors.
These ecophysiological traits are critical for the survival and
physiological functioning of wetland plants. Most studies on these traits
typically focus on a single trait and a single or few species at the time.
Next to these traits, traits of the leaf economics spectrum (LES) that
reflect resources acquisition and allocation in plant species have also
been frequently measured in wetlands. However, the performance of the LES
has rarely been examined among wetland plants. Both suites of traits are
critical for ‐but affect different aspects of‐ wetland plant functioning
and survival. The interactions between them, potentially causing synergies
or trade‐offs, reflect wetland plant strategies to simultaneously deal
with stress tolerance and resources utilization, and have ramifications
for the functioning of wetland ecosystems. Based on a literature review
and quantitative analysis of available data, we provide evidence
suggesting that LES and ecophysiological traits may be decoupled (e.g.,
for root porosity & radial oxygen loss vs. leaf nitrogen) or
coupled (e.g., for iron tolerance vs. SLA) in wetlands, depending on the
trait combination concerned. This rather complex relationship between
wetland adaptation traits and LES traits indicates that there can be
multiple mechanisms behind the strategies of wetland plants. We further
illustrate how adaptation and LES traits together contribute to wetland
ecosystem functions, such as denitrification and methane emission. We
highlight that both suites of traits should be considered simultaneously
when applying trait‐based methods to wetland ecology.