Biology subjects

Wenk, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Wenk, E..

7 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Contrasting climate signals between native and introduced annual and perennial floras

Annual versus perennial life histories represent a fundamental axis of plant strategy, with empirical evidence showing that the proportion of annuals is greater in hot, arid, or variable climates. Crucially, introduced species, a group that disproportionately includes annuals, are expanding in number and range across the globe. Whether introduced richness is governed by the same climatic controls as native richness remains untested at continental scales. For 19,299 native (12% annual) and 2,802 introduced (34% annual) Australian plant species, we show that native annual richness tracks climate far more tightly than introduced annual richness. Both floras largely follow the global pattern: the annual fraction rises in dry and seasonal climates. However, hotspots of native and introduced annual richness are completely different. Introduced annuals (28% of all annual species) concentrate in wet, populated areas with low precipitation seasonality, whereas native annual richness is fairly evenly distributed, with the highest diversity in the seasonal tropics. The current continental-scale pattern is thus the sum of a long interaction between the native floras life histories and in situ climate, with dynamic, path-dependent introductions layered on top. As introductions and range expansions continue, they will reshape the annual-to-perennial balance along pathways of human influence.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Nutrient currencies and P resorption greatly amplify the perceived costs of reproductive allocation in perennial heath shrubs

SummaryO_LIIn woody perennials, reproductive allocation considered as a fraction of NPP (RA) has been rarely quantified, especially tracked across plant lifetimes, measured in biologically meaningful currencies, and separated from standing biomass. C_LIO_LIWe addressed this gap by measuring dry mass, nitrogen, and phosphorus for every aboveground tissue type for 14 iteroparous perennial shrubs tracked across their full lifetimes, calculating RA using four accounting schemes and three currencies. C_LIO_LIRA was substantially higher by mid-life than typical estimates from ecosystem-scale studies. Distinguishing standing biomass from yearly production further revised RA upwards. Using a nutrient currency (especially P) increased the perceived costs of reproduction. Propagules were highly nutrient-enriched and reproductive accessory costs consumed more nutrients than did the propagules themselves. Considering N and P resorption from senescing leaves and wood shrank the effective vegetative nutrient budget, further concentrating net annual nutrient demand in reproductive tissues. C_LIO_LIOur results highlight high investment in RA for woody perennials, especially using nutrient currencies. Broadly similar allocation patterns were observed across species with different functional traits and lifespans, suggesting generality that may apply across biomes. Widespread underestimation of RA in forest growth models likely overestimates the proportion of NPP available for vegetative growth, leading to substantial errors in predictions. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

The most abundant plant species of Eastern Australia and our knowledge of their traits

O_LIThe rule that most species are relatively rare and few are common has been of central importance to many branches of ecology. This rule also implies that just a few species make up the majority of plant biomass in ecosystems. Focussing plant trait research on the most common species in a region could be useful for many applications, including understanding macroscale patterns of species assemblages at the continental scale, identifying strategies of abundant species or estimating landscape-scale fluxes of carbon and water. C_LIO_LIHere, we rank species based on their total cover across an entire continental region-- Eastern and Central Australia--and report the extent of trait coverage in terms of vegetation cover. To calculate species abundance and trait coverage, we used [~]100,000 vegetation plots from the Harmonised Australian Vegetation plot database overlaid across Australias vegetation classification scheme (the National Vegetation Information System), and we extracted traits from AusTraits, the most comprehensive regional trait database. C_LIO_LIJust 113 plant species (<1% of species found in the region) or the combined species of 16 genera make up 50% of the entire vegetation; approximately 10% of species or the combined species from 10% of the genera (1132 species and 140 genera) make up 90% of vegetation cover. Plant trait coverage tended to be higher when expressed as a proportion of vegetation cover than as a proportion of species in the most common woody genera Acacia and Eucalyptus. Gaps in the trait coverage of very common species were obvious, particularly among the grasses of central Australia. Expressing trait coverage weighted by abundance revealed that only a few additional trait measurements of the most common species and genera would be needed to characterise the traits of most of the vegetation in this part of the continent. C_LIO_LISynthesis: Our results show that a small fraction of species dominates most of the continent. This means that strategic sampling of a few common yet unsampled species could dramatically boost trait coverage and help address the Raunkiaeran shortfall of traits. Targeting these species would substantially improve ecosystem flux estimates and understanding of successful plant strategies at continental scales, with major benefits for vegetation modelling. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

traits.build: a data model, workflow and R package for building harmonised ecological trait databases

Trait databases have proliferated over the past decades, facilitating research on the ecology, evolution, and conservation of taxa across the Tree of Life. Typically, teams of independent researchers build these databases, and each must develop their own workflow and output structure. This divests research hours from downstream tasks such as trait-based analysis and interpretation and the resultant datasets are often difficult to integrate due to disparate database structures. Here we introduce the {traits.build} package, which offers a generalised workflow for building trait databases. {traits.build} contains bespoke functions for propagating metadata files, extensive tutorials, and sample configuration files, allowing researchers to efficiently build a new trait database using open source tools. In addition, the {traits.build} output structure is fully documented by a data model, ensuring the meaning of each variable and sematic relationship between variables is transparent and consistent. The data standard links to terms in previously published data standards, drawing strongly on DarwinCore and the Ecological Trait-data Standard, but also includes the ability to fully map location and context properties absent from these vocabularies., It is the first published database-building workflow that adheres to the Extensible Observation Ontology. Simultaneously developing a generalised workflow and publishing a data standard for the workflow provides {traits.build} users a straightforward pathway to build a new trait database that achieves the FAIR principles. The meaning of all variables in a {traits.build} database are already documented, allowing further integration with either other {traits.build} databases or indeed any other database with a documented data model. This follows the vision of the Open Traits Network to build trait databases whose data can be easily integrated for further analysis.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2023

A near-complete dataset of plant growth form, life history, and woodiness for all Australian plants

Tabular records of plant trait data are essential for diverse research purposes. Here we present scorings for a trio of core plant traits, plant growth form, woodiness, and life history, for nearly all accepted taxon concepts included in the Australian Plant Census (APC). This dataset is predominately derived from Australias state and national floras, supplemented by the taxonomic literature and diverse web resources. In total, 29,993 species and infraspecific taxa were scored for plant growth form, 30,279 for woodiness, and 30,056 for life history, with taxa scored as displaying a single or multiple trait values, as appropriate. This resource will enable rapid assessment of plant responses to disturbance events and new biogeographic analyses of trait distributions.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2023

Revisiting the role of mean annual precipitation in shaping functional trait distributions at a continental scale

1Mean annual precipitation (MAP) plays an undisputed role in determining the spatial distribution of the vegetative ecosystems on Earth. Nevertheless, the relationship between MAP and plant functional traits remains unclear. Here, we test the relationship between eight key functional traits and MAP. Our analysis reveals a strong, coordinated response of several plant traits including leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen, the leaf carbon isotope ratio and plant height from resource-conservative to resource-acquisitive values as MAP increased. These results establish an important role for MAP in driving trait selection across space and, therefore, a need for these effects to be included in future theoretical frameworks.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

AusTraits: a curated plant trait database for the Australian flora

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of measurements of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 375 traits across 29230 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxa descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological parameters (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual-, species- and genus-level observations coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties. This data descriptor provides information on version 2.1.0 of AusTraits which contains data for 937243 trait-by-taxa combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data to increase our collective understanding of the Australian flora.

ecology↗