|
| Plant functional traits are the features (morphological, physiological, phenological) that represent ecological
strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels and influence ecosystem
properties. Variation in plant functional traits, and trait syndromes, has proven useful for tackling many important ecological
questions at a range of scales, giving rise to a demand for standardised ways to measure ecologically meaningful plant traits.
This line of research has been among the most fruitful avenues for understanding ecological and evolutionary patterns and
processes. It also has the potential both to build a predictive set of local, regional and global relationships between plants and
environment and to quantify a wide range of natural and human-driven processes, including changes in biodiversity, the
impacts of species invasions, alterations in biogeochemical processes and vegetation–atmosphere interactions. The
importance of these topics dictates the urgent need for more and better data, and increases the value of standardised
protocols for quantifying trait variation of different species, in particular for traits with power to predict plant- and ecosystemlevel
processes, and for traits that can be measured relatively easily. Updated and expanded from the widely used previous
version, this handbook retains the focus on clearly presented, widely applicable, step-by-step recipes, with a minimum of text
on theory, and not only includes updated methods for the traits previously covered, but also introduces many new protocols
for further traits. This new handbook has a better balance between whole-plant traits, leaf traits, root and stem traits and
regenerative traits, and puts particular emphasis on traits important for predicting species’ effects on key ecosystem
properties.Wehope this new handbook becomes a standard companion in local and global efforts to learn about the responses
and impacts of different plant species with respect to environmental changes in the present, past and future. | |
|