Data from: Drought affects the coordination of belowground and aboveground resource-related traits in Solidago canadensis in China

Quantifying patterns of variation and coordination of plant functional
traits can help to understand the mechanisms underlying both invasiveness
and adaptation of plants. Little is known about the coordinated variations
of performance and functional traits of different organs in invasive
plants, especially in response to their adaptation to environmental
stressors. To identify the responses of the invasive species Solidago
canadensis to drought, 180 individuals were randomly collected from 15
populations and 212 ramets were replanted in a greenhouse to investigate
both the response and coordination between root and leaf functional
traits. Drought significantly decreased plant growth and most of the root
and leaf functional traits, i.e. root length, surface area, volume and
leaf size, number, and mass fraction, except for the root length ratio and
root mass fraction. Phenotypic plasticity was higher in root traits than
in leaf traits in response to drought, and populations did not differ
significantly. The plasticity of most root functional traits, i.e., root
length (RL), root surface area (RSA), root volume (RV), and root mass
fraction (RMF), were significantly positively correlated with biomass
between control and drought. However, the opposite was found for leaf
functional traits, i.e. specific leaf area (SLA), leaf area ratio (LAR),
and leaf mass fraction (LMF). Drought enhanced the relationship between
root and leaf, i.e., 26 pairwise root-leaf traits were significantly
correlated under drought, while only 15 pairwise root-leaf traits were
significantly correlated under control conditions. Significant
correlations were found between biomass and all measured functional traits
except for leaf size. RV, root length ratio, RMF, total area of leaves,
and LMF responded differently to water availability. These responses
enable S. canadensis to cope with drought conditions and may help to
explain the reason of the vast ecological amplitude of this species.