Аннотация
There is growing recognition that classifying terrestrial plant species on the basis of their function (into
'functional types') rather than their higher taxonomic identity, is a promising way forward for tackling important
ecological questions at the scale of ecosystems, landscapes
or biomes. These questions include those on vegetation
responses to and vegetation effects on, environmental change
s (e.g. changes in climate, atmospheric chemistry, land
use or other disturbances). There is also growing consensus about a shortlist of plant traits that should underlie such
functional plant classifications, because they have strong
predictive power of important ecosystem responses to
environmental change and/or they themselves have strong
impacts on ecosystem processes. The most favoured traits
are those that are also relatively easy and inexpensiv
e to measure for large numbers of plant species. Large
international research efforts, promoted by the IGBP–G
CTE Programme, are underway to screen predominant plant
species in various ecosystems and biomes worldwide for
such traits. This paper provides an international
methodological protocol aimed at standardising this research effort, based on consensus among a broad group of
scientists in this field. It features a practical handbook with step-by-step recipes, with relatively brief information
about the ecological context, for 28 functional traits r
ecognised as critical for tackling large-scale ecological
questions.
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