Across plant species there is a trade-off among plant ecophysiological leaf traits: specific leaf area (SLA), leaf nitrogen content (L_N), photosynthetic capacity (A) and leaf lifespan (LL). These traits, especially SLA, are inherently integrated with relative growth rate, which has been shown to be associated with latitude of seed origin among Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes. The purpose of this study was to determine if the trade-offs in leaf traits exist among A. thaliana ecotypes, to determine if it is a good model to understand the genetic basis of these traits, in addition, to determine if leaf traits are correlated with latitude of seed origin among A. thaliana ecotypes. 16 stock accessions of A. thaliana that originated from a wide range of latitudes were studied in this experiment under controlled conditions in a greenhouse. Leaf ecophysiological traits, SLA, L_N, A and LL were determined across the ecotypes.

Results/Conclusions

Results show that there are the same correlations within these ecophysioloical traits of A. thaliana ecotypes as has been shown across the worldwide spectrum of other species, suggesting that A. thaliana is a good model to further study these traits. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between latitude of seed origin and L_N, and SLA, while there was a significant positive correlation of latitude of seed origin with other life history traits such as leaf initiation rate and leaf number at bolt, suggesting that latitude is an important driving influence of these correlated traits.