Functional Traits of Selected Tree Species in Harvard Forest, New Hampshire, and Southern Quebec 2015

Increasing evidence suggests that species' phenological responses may predict their performance with warming, but this work has generally ignored whether phenology is correlated with other traits known to drive plant performance. This is perhaps surprising given that interest in functional traits has also increased in recent decades, yet within the functional traits literature there has been an equally limited consideration of phenology, perhaps because robustly estimating it is time-intensive, and simple field estimates will show extreme variation across sites of different latitudes and climate regimes. Here we collected a suite of trait data on the same species for which we collected phenological data (see related dataset HF314, Leaf and Flower Phenology of Woody Plant Species at Harvard Forest and Southern Quebec 2015) to help address this gap. We focused on populations of trees in temperate forests in the Northeast face, which face different environmental conditions across their ranges. This project measured functional traits of trees at two to four sites, to provide a foundation for studies on the relationship between range shift, phenology, and functional traits.越来越多的证据表明，物种的物候（phenology）响应或许可以预测其在气候变暖下的生存表现，但现有研究大多未关注物候是否与已知影响植物表现的其他功能性状（functional traits）存在关联。考虑到近几十年来学界对功能性状的研究兴趣持续升温，这一研究空白或许令人意外；但在功能性状相关的研究文献中，对物候的关注同样寥寥无几——这或许是因为精准估算物候需耗费大量时间，且简单的野外估算结果会因样地所处纬度与气候类型的不同而出现极大差异。为此，我们针对已采集物候数据的同一类物种，采集了一系列功能性状数据（详见关联数据集HF314：《哈佛森林与魁北克南部木本植物物种叶与花物候（2015年）》），以期填补这一研究空白。我们聚焦于东北部温带森林中的树木种群，这些种群在其分布范围内面临着各异的环境条件。本项目在2至4个样地中测定了树木的功能性状，旨在为分布区迁移、物候与功能性状之间的关联研究奠定基础。