Leaf carbon and oxygen isotopes are coordinated with the leaf economics spectrum in Mediterranean rangeland species

The leaf economics spectrum (LES) describes covariation of traits relevant to carbon and nutrient economics across plant species, but much less is known about the relationship between the LES and leaf water economy. We propose an approach combining the measurement of two leaf traits related to water use economy, leaf carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotopic composition, and the measurement of leaf morphological and nutrient traits to investigate the link between leaf carbon and nutrient economics and water use.

We tested the relationships between leaf traits linked to carbon and nutrient use within the LES and water use traits using leaf δ18O as a proxy of stomatal conductance (gs) and δ13C as a proxy of intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEi) across 15 Mediterranean rangeland species grown in an irrigated common garden and in a natural grassland in Southern France.

The target species spanned a wide range of variation in leaf morphological and nutrient trait values and a wide range ...