Data from: From traits to flames: Leaf traits, plant strategies, and plant flammability across a moisture gradient in a frequently burned subtropical landscape

The distribution of plant functional traits across environmental gradients
can reflect species’ adaptations to local abiotic conditions. Widely
measured leaf traits such as leaf area (LA), specific leaf area (SLA), and
leaf dry matter content (LDMC) indicate different life history strategies
and often respond predictably to gradients of stress and disturbance.
Mounting evidence suggests that leaf traits also covary with measures of
plant flammability. Yet, whether plant flammability and leaf traits covary
synchronously across environmental gradients remains unclear. Here, we
examined plant community composition, leaf morphological traits, and shoot
flammability traits along gradients of water depth and burn frequency
between seasonally inundated marl prairie and dry pine rockland on Long
Pine Key (LPK) in Everglades National Park (ENP). We built generalized
linear mixed models to test the strength and shape of trait-environment
relationships between leaf morphological traits, shoot flammability
traits, and life history strategies across these two environmental
gradients. Additionally, we utilized general linear mixed models to test
for relationships between leaf morphological traits and shoot flammability
traits. We found that plants in the drier regions along the gradient
(i.e., pine rockland) have high LDMC and moderate LA that reflect
stress-tolerant strategies. Conversely, plants in wetter parts of the
gradient (i.e., marl prairies) have low LDMC and high LA that reflect
disturbance-tolerant strategies. We also found that plants in the pine
rocklands burn more completely, at higher temperatures, and for longer
durations than those in the marl prairie. The paired distribution of leaf
traits and shoot flammability traits along environmental gradients
reflects significant correlations between shoot flammability traits and LA
and LDMC. The results indicate that life history strategies, leaf
morphological traits, and shoot flammability traits may prove useful in
plant and landscape flammability models for the Everglades and other
analogous ecosystems.