Data from: The demographic effects of functional traits: an integral projection model approach reveals population-level consequences of reproduction-defense tradeoffs

Quantitatively linking individual variation in functional traits to
demography is a necessary step to advance our understanding of trait-based
ecological processes. We constructed a population model for Asclepias
syriaca to identify how functional traits affect vital rates and
population growth and whether tradeoffs in chemical defense and demography
alter population growth. Plants with higher foliar cardenolides had lower
fiber, cellulose, and lignin levels, as well as decreased sexual and
clonal reproduction. Average cardenolide concentrations had the strongest
effect on population growth. In both the sexual and clonal pathway, the
tradeoff between reproduction and defense affected population growth. We
found that both increasing the mean of the distribution of individual
plant values for cardenolides and herbivory decreased population growth.
However, increasing the variance in both defense and herbivory increased
population growth. Functional traits can impact population growth and
quantifying individual-level variation in traits should be included in
assessments of population-level processes.