Ecology: A trail map for trait-based studies.

Abstract

Global assessments of variation in plant functional traits and the way that these traits influence competitive interactions provide a launching pad for future ecological studies. See Article p.167 & Letter p.204 Within the possible variety of forms that organisms can take, only a few will prove evolutionarily successful. Sandra Diaz et al. analyse a comprehensive database mapping worldwide variation in six traits critical to growth, survival and reproduction of vascular plants, and arrive at a detailed quantitative global picture of plant functional diversity. Despite enormous possible variation, the authors find that coordination among traits means that all plants can be positioned along just two axes of variation: one corresponds to overall plant form and the other is the previously characterized leaf economics spectrum. Also in this issue of Nature, Georges Kunstler et al., in a study of data from millions of trees worldwide, show that functional traits consistently predict the competitive interactions between tree species. The properties of plants affect their physiology in predictable and consistent ways, but it is not clear if this can be extended to effects on ecological competitiveness. Georges Kunstler et al. assemble data from three million trees, 140,000 forest growth plots, and many vegetation types worldwide to show that certain key traits affect competitive ability in predictable ways, and that there are trade-offs between traits that favour growth with, and without, competition. Elsewhere in this issue of Nature, Sandra Diaz et al. analyse a comprehensive database mapping worldwide variation in six traits critical to growth, survival and reproduction of vascular plants and arrive at a detailed quantitative global picture of plant functional diversity.