The outbreak of frosty (Moniliophthora roreri) and black pod (Phytophthora palmivora) in Central American cacao agroforests throughout the 1980s led to the breeding of Theobroma cacao clones resistant to these diseases. However, while clonal disease resistance has been well-documented, clonal adaptability to contrasting pedoclimates remains less understood. Plant functional responses to environmental constraints can be assessed by evaluating intraspecific trait variation (ITV), but trait-based approaches have rarely been implemented in genotype assessments. The objective of our study was to determine cacao clone ITV in contrasting environments. Here, we used bivariate, multivariate, and functional trait space analyses to quantify ITV in nine leaf functional traits, among six disease-resistant cacao clones, growing in two clonal gardens with distinct environmental characteristics (a “mild dry season” with near-optimal cacao growing conditions and a “harsh dry season” site with sub-optimal conditions). All leaf traits varied among the six clones, though trait differences among clones differed depending on the site: physiological trait differences among clones were larger at the “mild dry season” site, chemical trait differences were wider at the “harsh dry season” site, and morphological trait differences among clones were similar at both sites. Multivariate and hypervolume trait space analyses revealed greater site influence on trait values of the least productive clones, while the most productive clones were characterized by higher specific leaf area, independent of the site. To our knowledge, our paper is among the first to show evidence that functional traits provide new insights into genotype × environment interactions and clonal selection in agroforestry systems and support in favor of applying functional trait-based research to plant breeding paradigms.

整个1980年代中美洲可可农林中霜冻（Moniliophthora roreri）和黑荚果（Phytophthora palmivora）的爆发导致可可可可的繁殖。对这些疾病有抗性的克隆。然而，尽管已经充分证明了克隆性疾病抗性，但是克隆对适应性匹克莫来酸酯的适应性仍知之甚少。可以通过评估种内性状变异（ITV）来评估植物对环境限制的功能响应，但是基于性状的方法很少在基因型评估中实施。我们研究的目的是确定对比环境中的可可克隆ITV。在这里，我们使用双变量，多变量和功能性状特征空间分析对六个抗病性可可克隆中的九个叶片功能性状中的ITV进行了定量，这些克隆生长在两个具有独特环境特征的克隆花园中（“温和的干燥季节”，接近​​最佳）可可的生长条件和“干旱季节”，条件欠佳）。在六个克隆中，所有叶片性状均发生变化，尽管克隆之间的性状差异因部位而异：“温和干燥季节”部位间克隆的生理性状差异较大，在“干旱干燥季节”部位上化学性状差异较大，克隆之间的形态和性状差异在两个位点上相似。多变量和大量的性状空间分析显示，位点对产量最低的克隆的性状值的影响更大，而产量最高的克隆的特征是较高的比叶面积，而与位点无关。据我们所知，