Figure legends
Figure 1. FAMD ordination of 42 plant species from páramo El
Verjón-Matarredonda based on 20 functional traits. Axes labels display
traits with the highest contribution on dimensions 1 and 2. Symbols show
the three PFTs identified by the cluster analysis and colors show the
seven growth forms in our dataset following the classification by Ramsay
& Oxley (Ramsay and Oxley, 1997). PFT-1 denoted with circles includes
erect and prostrate herbs, one acaulescent rosette with soft leaves and
tender leaves shrubs, PFT-2 denoted with triangles includes basal and
stem rosettes, and PFT-3 denoted with squares includes prostrate and
upright shrubs with tough leaves.
Figure 2. Clusters generated by HCPC of 42 plant species from
páramo El Verjón-Matarredonda based on 20 functional traits. Labels
display the most important traits that define each cluster. Symbols show
the three PFTs identified and colors show growth forms using a
simplified classification system where all erect and prostrate herbs are
depicted as forbs, all basal, stem and acaulescent rosettes are depicted
as rosettes and all prostrate and upright shrubs as shrubs. PFT-1
denoted with circles includes forbs and tender leaves shrubs, PFT-2
denoted with triangles includes all but one rosette, and PFT-3 denoted
with squares includes only hard leaf shrubs.
Figure 3. Functional traits variation between the three PFTs
identified in the paramo “El Verjón”. The functional traits presented
are: (A) plant height, (B) seed mass, (C) leaf area, (D) cuticular
conductance, (E) specific leaf area, (F) leaf dry matter content, (G)
leaf thickness, (H) leaf strength, (I) leaf C/N ratio, (J) leaf
phosphorus content, (K) leaf carbon content, (L) leaf nitrogen content,
(M) maximum light-saturated photosynthetic rate, (N) leaf transpiration
rate, (O) water use efficiency, (P) leaf water potential at pre-dawn,
and (Q) leaf water potential at noon. P values from ANOVA and
Kruskal-Wallis tests are presented; detailed statistics of the ANOVAS
and Kruskal-Wallis test are in Table A1 in the appendix .
Letters indicate statistical differences as determined by post-hoc
Tukey’s test and Wilcox test. The horizontal line inside the box plot
indicates the median; the ends of the box are the upper and lower
quartiles, and the lines outside of the box represent the highest and
lowest values for each trait.