Data from: Weak coordination between leaf structure and function among closely related tomato species

We used a common garden to examine genetically based coordination between leaf traits across 19 wild and cultivated tomato taxa. We found weak integration between leaf structure (e.g. leaf mass per area) and physiological function (photosynthetic rate, biochemical capacity and CO2 diffusion), even though all were arrayed in the predicted direction along a ‘fast–slow’ spectrum. This suggests considerable scope for unique trait combinations to evolve in response to new environments or in crop breeding.

In particular, we found that partially independent variation in stomatal and mesophyll conductance may allow a plant to improve water-use efficiency without necessarily sacrificing maximum photosynthetic rates. Our study does not imply that functional trait spectra, such as the leaf economics spectrum, are unimportant, but that many important axes of variation within a taxonomic group may be unique and not generalizable to other taxa.

Usage notes

Zip file with trait data, phylogeny, and supplemental tables data.* Leaf anatomical and physiological traits from 19 tomato taxa (in Excel and CSV formats) globalGm.R R code to make Figure 5 and statistically compare LMA-gm relationship in tomatoes to a global dataset Tomato18cos_ultra.tre 18-gene ultrametric phylogenetic tree in Newick format TableS1.csv Key to species name abbreviations in data table and tree TableS3.csv Global dataset of gm and LMA Dryad.zip