Data from: Weak coordination between leaf structure and function among closely related tomato species

Theory predicts that natural selection should favor coordination between
leaf physiology, biochemistry and anatomical structure along a functional
trait spectrum from fast, resource-acquisitive syndromes to slow,
resource-conservative syndromes. However, the coordination hypothesis has
rarely been tested at a phylogenetic scale most relevant for understanding
rapid adaptation in the recent past or for the prediction of evolutionary
trajectories in response to climate change. We used a common garden to
examine genetically based coordination between leaf traits across 19 wild
and cultivated tomato taxa. We found weak integration between leaf
structure (e.g. leaf mass per area) and physiological function
(photosynthetic rate, biochemical capacity and CO2 diffusion), even though
all were arrayed in the predicted direction along a ‘fast–slow’ spectrum.
This suggests considerable scope for unique trait combinations to evolve
in response to new environments or in crop breeding. In particular, we
found that partially independent variation in stomatal and mesophyll
conductance may allow a plant to improve water-use efficiency without
necessarily sacrificing maximum photosynthetic rates. Our study does not
imply that functional trait spectra, such as the leaf economics spectrum,
are unimportant, but that many important axes of variation within a
taxonomic group may be unique and not generalizable to other taxa.