Plant traits

Units of

measurement

Methods of measurement

Performance measures

Above Ground biomass

gm

Destructive sampling of plant materials within a quadrat of 0.5 × 0.5 sq. m. size

The above ground biomass was divided into vegetative and reproductive plant parts

Vegetative biomass

gm

Includes stems and leaves of plant samples

Reproductive biomass

gm

Includes the inflorescence of plants

Population height

cm

Average height of the population measured on 10 mature individuals up to the general height of the foliage

Average species richness

Number

Number of associated species within the quadrat

Vegetative

Leaf surface area (LA)

mm2

Scanned measurements of 2 fresh 8th nodal leaves of each of 10 individual plants using a flat-bed scanner providing. tiff images which were processed using the software LAFORE [48]

The pooled estimate of a sample of 10 individuals’ aggregate LA was used to calculate the leaf traits

Lamina dry biomass

gm

Lamina samples (2 × 10 plants) oven-dried to constant weight at 75˚C for 3 days

Specific Leaf Area (SLA)

mm2∙g−1

LA divided by its oven-dry mass

Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC)

mg∙g−1

Calculated as dry weight divided by fresh weight of lamina

Proline

n∙mol∙g−1∙FW

Following standard methodology of Bates et al. [46]

Vegetative N

% N∙mg−1

Vegetative N per mg of plant sample following Nelson and Sommers [49]

Laminar N area−1

% N∙mm−2

Lamina N/lamina area

Laminar P area−1

mg∙kg−1∙mm−2

Lamina P (estimated colorimetrically following [50] )/Lamina area

Laminar K area−1

mg kg−1∙mm−2

Lamina K (estimated in flame photometer following [51] )/Lamina area

Reproductive

Reproductive N

% N∙mg−1

Reproductive N per mg of plant sample [49]

Seed weight

gm

Average weight of 50 seeds in each replica

Final Germination Percentage

%

Following standard methodology of estimation of seed germination parameters [47]

Mean Germination Time (MGT)

Days

Median Germination Time (T50)

Days