Are windy leaves sunnier? Accounting for within-plot individual-level environmental heterogeneity to prevent biased estimates of between-plot ITV-environmental relationship.

Are windy leaves sunnier? Accounting for within-plot individual-level environmental heterogeneity to prevent biased estimates of between-plot ITV-environmental relationship. | Authorea try { document.documentElement.classList.add('js'); } catch (e) { } var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'G-8VDV14Y67G']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); Skip to main content Preprints Collections Wiley Open Research IET Open Research Ecological Society of Japan All Collections About About Authorea FAQs Contact Us Quick Search anywhere Search for preprint articles, keywords, etc. Search Search ADVANCED SEARCH SCROLL This is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary. 20 October 2025 V1 Latest version Share on Are windy leaves sunnier? Accounting for within-plot individual-level environmental heterogeneity to prevent biased estimates of between-plot ITV-environmental relationship. Authors : Shuo Wei 0000-0002-9840-8949 , Yi-Nuo Lee , and David Zelený 0000-0001-5157-044X [email protected] Authors Info & Affiliations 175 views 92 downloads Contents Abstract Supplementary Material Information & Authors Metrics & Citations View Options References Figures Tables Media Share Abstract When understanding how intraspecific trait variation (ITV) responds to plot-level environmental gradients at the community scale, studies often overlook within-plot environmental heterogeneities, particularly light variation along the vertical profile of vegetation. This omission can lead to inaccurate estimations of ITV-environmental relationships. Currently, there is no proper analytical framework to address this gap. To address this issue, we propose a conceptual framework that integrates both plot- and within-plot-level environmental factors to analyze ITV-environmental relationships, emphasizing the use of plant individuals as study units and appropriate upscaling to the community scale through a robust sampling design. Furthermore, we applied the proposed framework to empirical data from a subtropical montane cloud forest to reveal the responses of traits from chronic wind stress and light exposure. Our framework can be implemented within a mixed-effects model without substantial drawbacks in terms of statistical power or Type I error rates, as demonstrated by our performance analysis on simulated data. Application to empirical data from a subtropical montane cloud forest further shows that neglecting within-plot light variation may obscure our understanding of plant adaptations to plot-level chronic wind stress. Across response traits, we observed consistent adjustments to light exposure, with more conservative trait expressions in higher light regimes. After accounting for the light effect, both leaf thickness and specific leaf area (SLA) continued to respond to wind stress, but the wind effects were dramatically reduced, especially in SLA. Overall, our results demonstrate that incorporating within-plot environmental variation is critical to accurately quantify ITV–environment relationships and may provide new insights into plant adaptive strategies in trait ecology. Supplementary Material File (oik-12118-file002.docx) Download 15.48 MB Information & Authors Information Version history V1 Version 1 20 October 2025 DOI 10.22541/au.176097254.47847202/v1 Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License. Keywords chronic wind community weighted mean (cwm) functional ecology intraspecific trait variation (itv) leaf response trait trait-environmental relationship Authors Affiliations Shuo Wei 0000-0002-9840-8949 National Taiwan University Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology View all articles by this author Yi-Nuo Lee National Taiwan University View all articles by this author David Zelený 0000-0001-5157-044X [email protected] National Taiwan University View all articles by this author Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 175 views 92 downloads .FvxKWukQNSOunydq8rnd { width: 100px; } Citations Download citation Shuo Wei, Yi-Nuo Lee, David Zelený. Are windy leaves sunnier? Accounting for within-plot individual-level environmental heterogeneity to prevent biased estimates of between-plot ITV-environmental relationship.. Authorea . 20 October 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.176097254.47847202/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu . Format Please select one from the list RIS (ProCite, Reference Manager) EndNote BibTex Medlars RefWorks Direct import Tips for downloading citations document.getElementById('citMgrHelpLink').addEventListener('click', function() { popupHelp(this.href); return false; }); $(".js__slcInclude").on("change", function(e){ if ($(this).val() == 'refworks') $('#direct').prop("checked", false); $('#direct').prop("disabled", ($(this).val() == 'refworks')); }); View Options View options PDF View PDF Figures Tables Media Share Share Share article link Copy Link Copied! Copying failed. 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