Untangling the Influence of Climate on Leaf and Fruit Size in Tropical Cryptocaryeae Trees (Lauraceae)

As a tree family with important economic and ecological significance, the adaptation mechanism of Cryptocaryeae trees (Lauraceae) to environmental fluctuations is crucial for protecting the structure and function of forest ecosystems. This study focuses on the effects of environmental climate on the adaptability of leaf and fruit functional traits. Through analyzing trends in the distribution of leaves and fruits across the latitude and longitude and their relationship with environmental factors, and by quantifying the relative contributions of environmental factors to these traits, we demonstrated that leaf morphology exhibits distinct latitudinal zonation and sensitivity to environmental fluctuations, especially to temperature changes. In contrast, the change of fruit is relatively conservative, mainly affected by annual precipitation. This indicates that in the process of plant adaptation to the environment, different functional traits may have independent adaptation mechanisms and different trade-off strategies, and plants themselves also have different trade-off strategies. Highlighting the importance of integrating ecological and evolutionary perspectives and considering phylogeny effects on various functional traits, it provides novel viewpoints on understanding environmental adaptation in plants.

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