Data from: Untangling the influence of phylogeny, soil and climate on leaf element concentrations in a biodiversity hotspot

1. Plant elemental properties are fundamentally important for physiology
and biogeochemical cycling in ecosystems. No study has examined foliar
elements and their interaction with soil and climate conditions at large
geographic scales in Karst areas of China, a biodiversity hotspot in the
world. Yet such information is important for understanding the functional
diversity of nutrient strategies and the physiological adaptations of
plants to climatic and edaphic heterogeneity. 2. We assessed the influence
of phylogeny, soil type and the climate on leaf element concentrations in
a clade of taxonomically diverse Karst plants from the subfamily
Didymocarpoideae under an explicit phylogenetic framework. We measured
leaf concentrations of seven elements and evaluated soil properties for
422 populations of 177 Didymocarpoideae species. The phylogenetic signals
present in the leaf element concentrations and in soil and climatic
variables were quantified at both the subfamily (Didymocarpoideae) and
genus (Primulina) levels. The correlations between leaf elements and soil
and climate conditions were analyzed at these two phylogenetic scales. 3.
The Didymocarpoideae subfamily is generally characterized by higher Ca and
Mg contents relative to other plants in China. Across the subfamily, a
strong phylogenetic signal is detected for all of the leaf elements
analyzed as well as for most soil and climate variables, whereas the genus
Primulina exhibits no significant phylogenetic signal in leaf elements or
in most soil variables. 4. We detected an influence of both soil and
climatic conditions on leaf element concentrations. However, the patterns
of the relationships between leaf elements and soil and climate variables
vary at the subfamily and genus levels. The phylogeny has a stronger
effect than soil and climatic factors on leaf element concentrations at
the subfamily level, while the leaf element contents within the genus
Primulina are mostly influenced by environmental conditions. We conclude
that the influences of taxonomy, soil and climate on leaf element
concentrations are dependent on the phylogenetic scale of analysis.