Specific leaf area (SLA) is the ratio of leaf area to leaf dry mass expressed in mm2 mg-1, reflecting the amount of energy plants invest in their leaf biomass. SLA is related to plant growth strategy with respect to water availability and temperature. The data were taken preferably from Kleyer et al. (2008), Tavşanoğlu & Pausas (2018), Ladouceur et al. (2019) and complemented by additional sources. Each species is characterized by a mean value calculated across available datasets.
Data source and citation
Axmanová, I. (2022). Specific leaf area. – www.FloraVeg.EU.
Further references
Kleyer, M., Bekker, R. M., Knevel, I. C., Bakker, J. P., Thompson, K., Sonnenschein, M., … Peco, B. (2008). The LEDA Traitbase: A database of life-history traits of the Northwest European flora. Journal of Ecology, 96(6), 1266–1274. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2008.01430.x
Ladouceur, E., Bonomi, C., Bruelheide, H., Klimešová, J., Burrascano, S., Poschlod, P., … Jiménez-Alfaro, B. (2019). The functional trait spectrum of European temperate grasslands. Journal of Vegetation Science, 30(5), 777–788. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12784
Tavşanoğlu, Ç., & Pausas, J. (2018). A functional trait database for Mediterranean Basin plants. Scientific data, 5, 180135. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.135