Lianas have more acquisitive traits than trees in a dry but not in a wet forest

Lianas are increasing in relative abundance and biomass many tropical forests. We tested the hypothesis that lianas conform to fast acquisitive end of continuum plant strategies, allowing acquire resources faster than trees. assessed functional traits representative leaf (LES) wood economics spectrum (WES), including hydraulics, 16 liana tree species canopy two forests at extremes climatic geological gradient across Isthmus Panama. For both forests, we observed a trade-off between construction more productive leaves with rapid turnover expensive slower turnover. also found trait variation associated hydraulic traits. These axes were orthogonal, suggesting trade-offs stem, operate independently. dry forest, had cheaper efficient wet trees overlapped stem characteristics. Moreover, duration green foliage highly explained forest species, reflecting different adaptations drought. In fast-growing benefited from higher return on investments vascular tissues slow-growing they capacity transport water through leaf. A construct display lower costs may favour over light interception, photosynthetic rates, growth under high nutrient availability Synthesis. strategy trees, characterized by for interception. environments, appear benefit high-light nutrient-rich soils thus take advantage resource conditions compared By contrast, characteristics not low nutrient-poor context limitation constrain acquisition strategies