Shift in Leaves Investment Strategies of Sunflower Across Climate Gradients in the Upper Midwest

Abstract

Specific leaf area (SLA) is an important trait to analyze when looking at trends in plant investment strategies as it correlates with whole plant growth. Our research looked at three species of sunflowers as a model organism to observe how SLA is impacted by differences in temperature, precipitation, and soil richness at the regional level. Studied species were Helianthus giganteus, H. grosseserratus, and H. maximilani. SLA has been noted to be linked with soil and temperature variables at a global scale where SLA is observed to be inversely related with temperature, however, not all individuals from all populations respond equally to environmental pressures. Our study investigated how plant growth strategies vary across regional climates