The use of functional plant leaves traits in the production ecosystem services assessment of grassland communities

Abstract

The article investigates the experience of the ecosystem production services evaluation of grassland communities using the plant functional traits, leaf area, specific leaf area, and community weighted average specific leaf area (CWM SLA). The direct dependence of the communities’ biomass on the values of the specific leaf area was revealed. Low values of the trait characterize the least productive degraded pasture meadow communities, and the most productive overgrown forest meadows have high values. The studies were conducted on the territory of Raifa forestry Volga-Kama State Natural Biosphere Reserve (VKGPBZ). Based on the outcomes, it is concluded that meadow communities' ecosystem production services can be successfully estimated using the calculation of the community- weighted specific leaf area (CWM SLA).