Table 5.

Loadings of the outer model and bootstrapping results (mean ± standard error) and t-test of the partial least square path model for the effects of ecological factors on plant design. The inner variables are presented in bold

Outer model	Species
	P. padifolia			P. elata
	Loadings	Mean ± s.e.	t-test	Loadings	Mean ± s.e.	t-test
Neighbourhood structure
W	0.81	0.89 ± 0.06	13.94***	0.86	0.69 ± 0.22	3.94***
n	−0.03	−0.25 ± 0.17	0.18	−0.51	−0.41 ± 0.23	2.17*
δ	0.02	0.21 ± 0.18	0.12	0.03	0.25 ± 0.18	0.99
Hmax	0.77	0.72 ± 0.16	4.83***	0.60	0.55 ± 0.20	2.97**
Wnear	0.01	0.23 ± 0.16	0.01	0.25	0.43 ± 0.23	1.06
Light availability
DSF	0.91	0.90 ± 0.06	17.38***	0.88	0.85 ± 0.10	9.33***
ISF	0.96	0.95 ± 0.03	28.01***	0.96	0.94 ± 0.08	13.20***
LAI	−0.84	−0.83 ± 0.06	13.65***	−0.70	−0.71 ± 0.12	5.56***
Plant attributes
AL/height	0.26	0.47 ± 0.26	0.98	−0.10	−0.23 ± 0.17	0.58
RB	−0.60	−0.51 ± 0.18	3.38**	0.42	0.46 ± 0.18	2.35*
Plant slenderness	0.10	0.41 ± 0.24	0.44	0.75	0.69 ± 0.16	4.76***
SLA	0.87	0.73 ± 0.18	4.60***	0.86	0.84 ± 0.10	8.30***
Plant allometry
b	0.02	0.35 ± 0.23	0.10	0.45	0.59 ± 0.30	1.50
Sb	0.90	0.81 ± 0.17	5.14***	0.96	0.67 ± 0.26	3.33***
r2	−0.89	−0.81 ± 0.17	5.27***	−0.56	−0.60 ± 0.28	2.01*
Plant biomechanics
Water content	0.20	0.36 ± 0.23	0.86	0.79	0.56 ± 0.25	3.13**
E/ρ	0.50	0.49 ± 0.22	2.29*	0.36	0.44 ± 0.21	2.33*
EI	0.11	0.28 ± 0.20	0.53	0.27	0.51 ± 0.25	1.08
Lp	−0.03	−0.37 ± 0.23	0.14	−0.63	−0.48 ± 0.26	2.40*
Safety factor	−0.94	−0.76 ± 0.18	5.21***	−0.28	−0.38 ± 0.23	1.18

*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.