PREMISE The use of functional traits has surged in recent decades, providing new insights ranging from individual plant fitness to ecosystem processes. Global plant trait databases have advanced our understanding of plant functional diversity, but they remain incomplete because of geographic and taxonomic biases. Herbarium specimens may help fill these gaps by providing trait information across space and time. We tested whether herbarium specimen-derived measurements are reliable estimates of three important, commonly measured functional traits-specific leaf area (SLA), branch wood specific gravity, and leaf thickness. METHODS Leaves and branches were collected from species cultivated at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and Florida International University in Miami, FL, USA. Fresh components of SLA (area), branch wood specific gravity (volume), and leaf thickness were measured following standard trait measurement protocols. We compared these trait values to corresponding measurements using plant tissues dried in a plant press following standard herbarium plant collecting protocols. RESULTS Herbarium-derived trait measurements (dried tissues) were highly correlated with those measured using fresh tissues following standard protocols (SLA: R2 = 0.72-0.97, p < 0.01; wood specific gravity: R2 = 0.74-0.75, p < 0.01; leaf thickness: R2 = 0.96, p < 0.01). However, except for leaf thickness, linear model slope or intercept coefficients differed from 1, indicating herbarium-derived trait measurements may provide biased estimates of fresh traits without the use of correction factors. CONCLUSIONS Herbarium-derived traits cannot always be used interchangeably with those measured from fresh tissues because of tissue shrinkage. However, herbarium-derived trait data still have the potential to drastically expand the temporal, geographic, and taxonomic scope of global trait databases.

中文翻译：

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基于标本馆的测量可靠地估计了三个功能特征

前提 近几十年来，功能性状的使用激增，提供了从个体植物适​​应性到生态系统过程的新见解。全球植物性状数据库促进了我们对植物功能多样性的理解，但由于地理和分类学偏见，它们仍然不完整。植物标本馆标本可以通过提供跨空间和时间的特征信息来帮助填补这些空白。我们测试了植物标本采集的测量值是否是对三个重要的、常用的功能性状特定叶面积 (SLA)、枝材比重和叶厚的可靠估计。方法从美国佛罗里达州迈阿密的仙童热带植物园和佛罗里达国际大学种植的物种中收集叶子和树枝。SLA的新鲜成分（面积）、枝材比重（体积）、和叶片厚度按照标准性状测量方案进行测量。我们将这些性状值与使用在植物压榨机中干燥的植物组织的相应测量值进行比较，并遵循标准植物标本馆植物收集协议。结果植物标本馆衍生的性状测量（干燥组织）与使用新鲜组织按照标准方案测量的那些高度相关（SLA：R2 = 0.72-0.97，p < 0.01；木材比重：R2 = 0.74-0.75，p < 0.01；叶厚度：R2 = 0.96，p < 0.01）。然而，除了叶厚之外，线性模型斜率或截距系数都不同于 1，这表明植物标本馆衍生的性状测量可能会在不使用校正因子的情况下提供对新鲜性状的有偏估计。结论 由于组织收缩，植物标本馆衍生的特征不能总是与新鲜组织测量的特征互换使用。然而，植物标本馆衍生的性状数据仍有潜力大幅扩展全球性状数据库的时间、地理和分类范围。