Intraspecific leaf trait variation mediates edge effects on litter decomposition rate in fragmented forests

There is strong trait dependence in species-level responses to environmental change and their cascading effects on ecosystem functioning. However, there is little understanding of whether intraspecific trait variation (ITV) can also be an important mechanism mediating environmental effects on ecosystem functioning. This is surprising, given that global change processes such as habitat fragmentation and the creation of forest edges drive strong trait shifts within species. On 20 islands in the Thousand Island Lake, China, we quantified intraspecific leaf trait shifts of a widely distributed shrub species, Vaccinium carlesii, in response to habitat fragmentation. Using a reciprocal transplant decomposition experiment between forest edge and interior on 11 islands with varying areas, we disentangled the relative effects of intraspecific leaf trait variation vs. altered environmental conditions on leaf decomposition rates in forest fragments. We found strong intraspecific variation in leaf ..., We conducted island-level reciprocal transplant decomposition experiments between forest edges and interiors on a locally abundant native understory species, Vaccinium carlesii (Ericaceae), to disentangle the relative effects of intraspecific leaf trait variation vs. altered environmental conditions on leaf decomposition rates in forest fragments., , # Intraspecific leaf trait variation mediates edge effects on litter decomposition rate in fragmented forests

On 20 islands in the Thousand Island Lake, China, we quantified intraspecific leaf trait shifts of a widely distributed shrub species, *Vaccinium carlesii*, in response to habitat fragmentation. Using a reciprocal transplant decomposition experiment between forest edge and interior on 11 islands with varying areas, we disentangled the relative effects of intraspecific leaf trait variation vs. altered environmental conditions on leaf decomposition rates in forest fragments.

## Description of the data and file structure

The datasets include two data files: donor.csv and recipient.csv

The donor.csv data file includes leaf trait data for 535 plant individuals across 20 islands in the Thousand Island Lake:

tree_id: donor plant id.
spad: leaf chlorophyll content (SPAD) of the donor plant.
ldmc: leaf dry matter content (g/g) of the donor plant.
sla: specific leaf area (cm2/g) of...