Climate controls plant life form patterns on a high-elevation oceanic island

Aim: Plant life forms characterize key morphological strategies that enable large-scale comparisons of plant communities. This study applies Raunkiær’s plant life form concept that was developed for temperate climate to a subtropical island flora, in parts, dominated by summer aridity. We quantify how plant life form patterns as well as patterns of important plant functional traits (PFTs) relate to important climate and topographic characteristics. Location: La Palma, Canary Islands Taxon: Flora of La Palma.

Methods: We assigned each native plant species a plant life form, i.e., phanerophyte, chamaephyte, hemicryptophyte, geophyte and therophyte, as well as PFTs (succulence and N-fixer). We used stacked species distribution models to assess occurrence probability for each species using the Atlantis database (500x500 m grid). We related richness and percentage values for each plant life form and PFT to climate and topography.

Results: Plant life forms and PFTs showed a clear patter...