Data from: Dovetailing the genetic, developmental and functional bases of the adaptation of stomatal traits to climate

Thus, maximum stomatal conductance, <em>g</em>_max, is a key influence on gas exchange, productivity, and growth. Yet, the adaptation of <em>g</em>_max to climate and its genetic, developmental, and functional bases have remained unclear.

Here, we report on a cross-scale, integrative and synthetic study of 145 geographically diverse ecotypes of <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em> grown in a common garden. Across ecotypes, higher <em>g</em>_max had strong, polygenic associations with colder and drier macroclimates and shorter growing seasons, consistent with adaptation for stress avoidance. Higher <em>g</em>_max was achieved developmentally through high guard cell initiation rates and small epidermal pavement cells, resulting in greater spatial allocation of the epidermal surfaces to stomata.