A Trait-Based Framework for Aquatic Plants Life Forms: The Emergent–Floating–Submerged (EFS) Continuum

1. Freshwater plants exhibit diverse life-form strategies that allow them to persist across environments ranging from temporary flooded wetlands to deep lakes. Existing frameworks for freshwater plants, such as emergent, floating, and submerged life-forms, rely on the categorical classifications of species into fixed groups. Although they are widely used to describe ecological and evolutionary patterns in plant communities, these categorical schemes remain inconsistent across studies, fail to capture mixed or plastic morphologies within species and do not provide a quantitative link between fluctuating freshwater environments and plant morphology and function.   2. Here we introduce a continuous trait-based framework—the Emergent–Floating–Submerged (EFS) continuum—to describe aquatic plants based on the proportional expression of three key leaf type dimensions. Using a dataset spanning 1,640 species worldwide, we show that the EFS continuum captures morphological variability that can be used to understand ecological and evolutionary plant adaptations. 3. We found that continuous EFS traits outperform classical categorical definitions in predicting trait–environment relationships, revealing life-form dependent community responses to water transparency, alkalinity, and nutrient enrichment in community assembly models. We also show that the EFS framework can be used to map the evolutionary transitions among aquatic life forms. Emergent leaf strategies represent the ancestral condition within aquatic lineages and the principal source of transitions to alternative life forms, particularly submerged strategies. Floating strategies were comparatively rare and exhibited few inferred transitions. Together, these findings demonstrate that life-form identity is more accurately represented as a continuous and evolutionarily dynamic spectrum rather than as fixed categories. 4. Synthesis: By integrating inter and intraspecific leaf variation within a unified quantitative framework, the EFS continuum provides a scalable foundation for predicting functional change and ecosystem responses in freshwater systems under global environmental change.

Presentation Preference: Standard Oral (12 Minutes)

Primary Presenter: Yang Liu, McGill University (yang.liu15@mail.mcgill.ca)

Authors:

Yang Liu, McGill University  (yang.liu15@mail.mcgill.ca)

Lindsay Trottier, McGill University  (lindsay.trottier@mail.mcgill.ca)

Lars Baastrup-Spohr, University of Copenhagen  (lbaastrupspohr@bio.ku.dk)

Yingji Pan, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences  (panyingji@iga.ac.cn)

Yu Cao, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences  (caoyu@wbgcas.cn)

Ole Pedersen, University of Copenhagen  (opedersen@bio.ku.dk)

Donna Perleberg, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources  (donna.perleberg@state.mn.us)

Ji Kim, The College of Ocean & Bioscience, Kunsan National University  (j.kim@kunsan.ac.kr)

Hanfeng Xu, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences  (xhfbot@126.com)

Ana Bedoya, The New York Botanical Garden  (abedoya@nybg.org)

Balázs Lukács, HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Aquatic Ecology  (lukacs.balazs@ecolres.hu)

Zhi-Zhong Li, Anhui Normal University  (lizhizhong@ahnu.edu.cn)

Hong Sheng Jiang, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences  (jhs@wbgcas.cn)

Jonathan Urrutia-Estrada, Universidad Católica de Temuco  (jonathan.urrutia@uct.cl)

Giovanni Rivieccio, University of Sassari  (grivieccio@uniss.it)

Simonetta Bagella, University of Sassari  (sbagella@uniss.it)

Alice Vecchia, University of Parma  (alice.dallavecchia@unipr.it)

Rossano Bolpagni, University of Parma  (rossano.bolpagni@unipr.it)

Christopher Tyrrell, Milwaukee Public Museum  (tyrrell@mpm.edu)

Natalia Morandeira, Universidad Nacional de San Martín  (nmorandeira@unsam.edu.ar)

Luz Manzo, Centro de Investigación Esquel de Montaña y Estepa Patagónica (CIEMEP) (CONICET - UNPSJB)  (lmanzo@comahue-conicet.gob.ar)

Viktor Olah, University of Debrecen  (olahviktor@unideb.hu)

Rafał Chmara, University of Gdansk  (rafal.chmara@ug.edu.pl)

Alfredo Llorente, University of the Basque Country  (alfredo@anbiotek.com)

Mateus Peressuti Batista dos Santos, Federal University of Paraná  (mateus.peressuti@ufpr.br)

Maxwell Gebhart, Mississippi State University  (mgebhart@gri.msstate.edu)

Soledad Nomdedeu, Universidad Nacional de San Martín  (snomdedeu@unsam.edu.ar)

Ashley Hoblyn, University of New South Wales  (ashley.hoblyn@outlook.com)

Anne Lewerentz, Institute for Geography and Geoecology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)  (anne.lewerentz@kit.edu)

Carlos Cano-Barbacil, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales  (c.canob12@gmail.com)

Colin Burke, Griffith University  (colin.burke@griffithuni.edu.au)

Junyao Sun, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences  (sunjunyao@wbgcas.cn)

Benjamin Misteli, WasserCluster Lunz - Biologische Station; Dr Carl Kupelwieser Promenade  (benjamin.misteli@wcl.ac.at)

Jarno Turunen, Finnish Environment Institute, Marine and Freshwater Solutions  (Jarno.Turunen@syke.fi)

Laura Kipriyanova, Institute for Water and Environmental Problems of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences  (lkipriyanova@mail.ru)

Diana Sityaeva, Novosibirsk State University  (d.sityaeva@g.nsu.ru)

Wei Li, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences  (liwei@wbgcas.cn)

Xiaoting Xu, Sichuan University  (xiaotingxu@scu.edu.cn)

Lars Iversen, McGill University  (lars.iversen@mcgill.ca)