Functional diversity of a temperate continental flora: Wide but skewed coverage of the global spectrum of plant form and function

Habitat filtering is assumed to promote plant functional convergence, but local functional ranges are often wide. Using the Global Spectrum of Plant Form and Function (GSPFF) as global reference, we tested whether a regional flora shared the same trait trade-offs as the global flora, and whether the regional phenospace supports the habitat filtering hypothesis.

We measured six key functional traits in 268 central Argentina species. We compared this flora with the GSPFF using univariate and multivariate methods. We tested whether the regional phenospace was smaller or more skewed than expected by chance, and analysed its ‘topography’.

Regional and global phenospaces shared major axes, syndromes, and trait correlations. Despite having fewer species, the regional flora broadly covered the GSPFF, but without tall, large-leaved, large-seeded trees. The most frequent species were conservative herbs and shrubs. Distinct species also showed highly conservative attributes.

Despite being moderate to harsh, central Argentina environmental conditions do not appear to preclude the regional presence of most functional syndromes previously identified at the global scale. However, the regional and global floras differ in the most frequent syndromes. At the regional scale, habitat filtering shapes functional ‘topographies’ more than it constrains the extent of phenospaces.