Plant Functional Ecology: From Organ to Ecosystem

This book provides a comprehensive exploration of plant functional traits and their critical role in understanding and predicting ecosystem functions in response to environmental changes. By bridging the gap between traditional ecological research and emerging macro-ecological technologies, this book offers an in-depth understanding of how functional traits at various levels, from organs to entire ecosystems, can be utilized to address complex ecological challenges, including global change.

The chapters cover a wide range of topics essential to the field of ecology, including the development and application of plant functional traits, the scaling of traits from individual plants to communities, and the integration of these traits into advanced models and remote sensing technologies. Novel frameworks, such as plant community traits, ecosystem traits (ESTs), and plant trait networks (PTNs) are discussed, providing new ways to link species-level traits with ecosystem processes. These concepts are pivotal in expanding the application of trait-based ecology, allowing for more accurate predictions of ecosystem productivity, community assembly, and biodiversity patterns on a regional and global scale. The book also addresses the challenge of linking leaf and root traits to ecosystem functions, offering insights into how these traits can be scaled up and used to understand the adaptation strategies of plants in complex environments.

Targeted at undergraduate and graduate students and researchers in ecology, this book is ideal for those seeking both fundamental and advanced knowledge of trait-based research in ecology. Offering valuable insights and practical frameworks that are essential for tackling the ecological challenges, the book is a must-read for anyone interested in the integration of macroecology, geography, and remote sensing to solve current regional ecological problems and global change.

Nianpeng He is a Distinguished Professor at Northeast Forestry University, China, with research expertise in plant functional traits, ecosystem carbon sequestration, and biogeochemistry. He has made pivotal contributions to the development of conceptual frameworks, such as community traits, ecosystem traits, plant trait networks, and trait-based productivity prediction models. These innovations have brought novel insights to the fields of community ecology and ecosystem ecology.

Guirui Yu is a Principal Research Scientist at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Focusing on the development of advanced observation techniques, he is the founder of ChinaFLUX, a leading research network dedicated to the study of ecosystem carbon, nitrogen, and water fluxes in China.

Congcong Liu is an Associate Professor at Minzu University of China and a recipient of the Special Award of the President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He specializes in trait-environment relationship, as well as the linkages between plant traits and ecosystem functions.

Ying Li is an Associate Professor at Beijing Forestry University and a recipient of the Youth Talent Support Projects from the Beijing Association for Science and Technology and the Ecological Society of China. Her research focuses on plant trait networks.

Ruili Wang is an Associate Professor at Northwest A&F University, with research interests in plant functional traits, including the variability and coupling relationships of leaf and root functional traits, as well as mechanisms for maintaining ecosystem functions.