Shortgrass prairie (Colorado, USA) and northern mixedgrass prairie (Wyoming, USA) species traits

These data support Mueller et al. 2023, entitled "Coordination of
leaf, root, and seed traits shows the importance of whole plant economics
in two semiarid grasslands." Uncertainty persists within trait-based
ecology, partly because few studies assess multiple axes of functional
variation and their effect on plant performance. For 55 species from two
semiarid grasslands, we quantified: i) covariation between economic traits
of leaves and absorptive roots, ii) covariation among economic traits,
plant height, leaf size, and seed mass, and iii) relationships between
these traits and species’ abundance. Pairs of analogous leaf and root
traits were at least weakly positively correlated (e.g., SLA and SRL). Two
pairs of such traits, N content and DMC of leaves and roots, were at least
moderately correlated (r>0.5) whether species were grouped by site,
taxonomic group and growth form, or life history.  Root diameter
was positively correlated with seed mass for all groups of species except
annuals and monocots.  Species with higher LDMC tended to be more
abundant (r=0.63). Annuals with larger seeds were more abundant (r=0.69).
Compared to global-scale syntheses with many observations from mesic
ecosystems, we observed stronger correlations between analogous leaf and
root traits, weaker correlations between SLA and leaf N, and stronger
correlations between SRL and root N.  In dry grasslands, plant
persistence may require coordination of above- and belowground traits, and
dense tissues may facilitate dominance.