Tradeoffs between key aspects of plant performance such as resource acquisition and allocation underpin several trait‐based theories that have been derived for vascular plants. However, due to difficulty in quantifying traits in nonvascular plants, our theoretical understanding of how traits govern the physiological and ecological preferences of nonvascular plant species is quite limited. Here, we used the resource economics theory (RET) and optimal partitioning theory (OPT) to evaluate functional traits in mosses. We evaluated aspects of these theories in two common but ecologically different Sphagnum moss species. We used a suite of morpho‐physiological traits across a range of environmental treatments to test whether Sphagnum is capable of functional tissue partitioning and whether the two Sphagnum species studied conform to a fast or slow strategy often observed in vascular plants. Consistent with the predictions of RET, the fast‐growing species maintained a faster growth rate and low biomass across treatments. However, some of the traits responded contrary to predictions for respiration and photosynthetic rates. Consistent with OPT, Sphagnum diverted biomass from branch to capitulum to connect with the primary source of moisture when under drought stress. Overall, this study showed that moss traits could be used to test ecological theories that were developed primarily for vascular plants.

中文翻译：

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在资源经济学和最优分配理论的背景下评价泥炭藓性状

植物性能关键方面之间的权衡，例如资源获取和分配，为维管植物衍生了几种基于特征的理论奠定了基础。但是，由于难以量化非维管植物的性状，因此我们对性状如何控制非维管植物物种的生理和生态偏好的理论理解十分有限。在这里，我们使用资源经济学理论（RET）和最佳分配理论（OPT）来评估苔藓的功能性状。我们在两种常见但生态上不同的泥炭藓类物种中评估了这些理论的各个方面。我们在一系列环境处理中使用了一组形态生理特性，以测试泥炭藓是否能够功能性组织分区和是否两个泥炭藓研究的物种符合快速或在维管植物常常观察到缓慢的策略。与RET的预测一致，快速生长的物种在所有处理中均保持较快的生长速度和较低的生物量。但是，某些性状的反应与对呼吸和光合速率的预测相反。与OPT一致，在干旱胁迫下，泥炭藓将生物量从树枝转移到小花以与主要的水分来源相连接。总体而言，这项研究表明，苔藓性状可用于测试主要为维管植物开发的生态学理论。