Recently, Dr. Liu Hui, an associate researcher at the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, together with several scientists in the fields of community ecology, ecosystem science, biodiversity, and global change, proposed a new perspective on analyzing and predicting biodiversity using plant functional traits from different ecological dimensions, while also considering the influences of evolution and the environment. This research was published in the international academic journal "Biological Diversity."
The Multiscale Connection between Plant Functional Traits and Biodiversity. Image courtesy of the research team.
Understanding the origins, distribution patterns, and dynamic changes of biodiversity is a key issue in modern ecology. Trait-based ecology emphasizes the importance of plant functional traits in community assembly and ecosystem functioning. However, functional traits can also provide a link to biodiversity at broader temporal and spatial scales. Therefore, there is a need to develop a research framework that assesses the impact of global change on biodiversity based on plant functional traits across multiple temporal and spatial scales. This framework aims to explore the physiological and ecological mechanisms underlying biodiversity formation and maintenance, aiding in the conservation and prediction of biodiversity under future climate change.
This study suggests that at the scale of individual plants and species, trait variations among different organs, within species, and between species are crucial for assessing the ecological evolutionary dynamics of species formation. These traits are also key to species' responses to climate change, affecting species growth and mortality. At the community scale, the differentiation of ecological niches and fitness based on functional traits forms the basis of contemporary species coexistence theory. The controversial relationship between functional traits and community dynamics is a key entry point for a deeper understanding of biodiversity maintenance. At the ecosystem scale, plant functional traits and functional diversity collectively drive the link between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, providing environmental tolerance thresholds at the species and ecosystem levels. At the global scale, plant functional traits can reveal important processes influencing species distribution and global biodiversity, such as critical traits leading to speciation or extinction, and the relationships between climate diversity, geographic diversity, and biodiversity.
Furthermore, phylogenetic diversity, which is on par with functional diversity, is an important component of biodiversity and the foundation of species' micro and macroevolution. Evolutionary niche conservatism and environmental influences collectively affect traits and their plasticity, influencing the synergies and trade-offs among traits, leading to changes in communities and biodiversity under environmental change.
This study systematically summarizes the research progress on the role of plant functional traits in species adaptation and coexistence, biodiversity-ecosystem functioning, species distribution, and global biodiversity. It integrates theoretical and methodological approaches related to functional traits to study biodiversity and discusses future research trends combining functional traits and biodiversity under global environmental change.
For more information, please refer to the related paper: https://doi.org/10.1002/bod2.12004
