The Development of Leaf Trait Ecology on Barro Colorado Island, Panama

This review focuses on leaves as integrators of nutrient concentration, physiological capacity, and antiherbivore defenses. Leaf studies on Barro Colorado Island (BCI) were important for development of the leaf economics spectrum because they showed that under specific environmental conditions, contrasting species produced consistent leaf traits. Recent leaf trait studies at BCI link forest spectral reflectance to site and individual trees. The progression of discoveries highlighted in this history of concepts illustrates how BCI studies paralleled prominent ideas in leaf trait ecology, and for the trade-offs among allocation, defenses, and growth, drove the field toward synthesizing plant strategies globally.