Reply to: The importance of trait selection in ecology

Abstract

Two recent publications1,2 have explored the importance of roots forunderstanding plant form and function, but reached opposite conclusionson the basis of largely overlapping data. Carmona et al.1 concludedthat their results “do not confirm the strong covariation between leafand fine-root traits predicted by the plant economics spectrum hypothesis”.By contrast, Weigelt et al.2 concluded that “key leaf and fine-roottraits were aligned along the expected [fast–slow] ‘conservation’ gradientof plant economic investment”. Here we reflect on the causes forthe apparent discrepancies of these studies and show that the rationalebehind trait selection is vital for the conclusions.