Plant traits: vegetative height and specific leaf area

The table contains the average value for two functional traits measured in 175 grassland plant species. Data were field-sampled in a study area that covers approximately 700 km2 of a mountain region located in the Western Swiss Alps. The traits are: vegetative height (VH in mm) and specific leaf area (SLA in mm2 mg-1). Vegetative height is a stature trait associated with the plants’ ability to compete for light, and specific leaf area is related to the plants’ ability to capture, use, and release resources to their environment, thereby providing a good estimate of the position of the species along the leaf economic spectrum. Each trait was log-transformed to conform to normality and scaled between 0 and 1. See Dubuis et al. 2013 (DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00237.x), for details on the measurements in the field.