Ecosystem Traits Linking Functional Traits to Macroecology

doi:10.1016/j.tree.2018.11.004

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Volume 34, Issue 3, March 2019, Pages 200-210

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2018.11.004 Get rights and content

Highlights

Most processes related to effects of global change must be understood and dealt with at regional or global scales, requiring the linkage between traditional traits and macroecology.

We propose a framework for quantifying ecosystem traits to broaden the applicability of functional traits to macroecology.

Ecosystem traits are quantities informative of environmental adaptation and the optimization function of organisms at whole community or ecosystem, standardized on the intensity (or density) per unit land area.

Using data sets from tropical to cold-temperate forests, we developed an approach for scaling up and scale-matching traits measured for use as ecosystem traits per land area.

Ecosystem traits can integrate data from field investigations, eddy-flux, remote sensing, and ecological models, and provide new resolution of the responses and feedback at regional to global change.

As the range of studies on macroecology and functional traits expands, integration of traits into higher-level approaches offers new opportunities to improve clarification of larger-scale patterns and their mechanisms and predictions using models. Here, we propose a framework for quantifying ‘ecosystem traits’ and means to address the challenges of broadening the applicability of functional traits to macroecology. Ecosystem traits are traits or quantitative characteristics of organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) at the community level expressed as the intensity (or density) normalized per unit land area. Ecosystem traits can inter-relate and integrate data from field trait surveys, eddy-flux observation, remote sensing, and ecological models, and thereby provide new resolution of the responses and feedback at regional to global scale.

Section snippets

Requirement to Bridge Traditional Traits to Macroecology

The functional traits (see Glossary) of a plant, animal, or microbe are measurable properties related to productivity or adaptation to the environment. For species within and across communities, functional traits contain information on many patterns and processes, including phylogenetic signal, correlations with physiological function, and information on environmental constraints, at a wide range of scales 1, 2. Thus, there has been a steep increase in the number of studies investigating

Current Gaps between Traditional Traits and Macroecology

It is important to identify the gaps that separate traditional traits from macroecology. Trait databases based on field investigations are rapidly expanding. For instance, the TRY Plant Trait Database (https://www.try-db.org) contains 148 000 plant taxa and 6.9 million trait records [21], allowing community-level trait statistics to be explored 6, 7, 8. However, a series of conceptual challenges must be overcome. New approaches are needed for scaling up, that is, translating functional traits

Toward Defining Ecosystem Traits

An increasing number of studies on traits and macroecology are focusing on using communities and ecosystems to explore ecological problems at regional or global scales. For progress to be made on this topic, new concepts must be developed to integrate traits measured at the organ level, to meet the requirements of the main technologies of macroecology, especially by matching them at the same spatial scale. We propose that the concept of ‘ecosystem traits’ could be used to address these gaps.

Future Direction for Linking Ecosystem Traits to Macroecology

Establishing the quantitative relationships between ecosystem traits and the functioning of natural ecosystems is a vital challenge 9, 11, 28, 29. Recent analyses of the database constructed along the North–South Transect of Eastern China (NSTEC) transect from tropical to cold-temperate forests have allowed the derivation of ecosystem traits from the measured data at the organ level, and linked to ecosystem functioning based on ecological modeling, eddy-flux observations, or remote sensing. As

Concluding Remarks

The concept of ecosystem trait is valuable, due to its benefits for scale matching, and for relating to ecological processes across regions. Consequently, this new concept could be used in a wide range of studies on macroecology and functional biogeography, particularly as data sets grow and technologies advance (Figure 3). The proposed ecosystem traits could be applied to: (i) functional traits of plants, animals, and microbes to determine trait–environmental relationships at large scales;

Acknowledgments

N.H. received funding from the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFA0604803, 2017YFC0504004, 2016YFC0500202), the Natural Science Foundation of China (41671045, 31770655, and 41571130043), and the program of Youth Innovation Research Team Project (LENOM2016Q0005).

Author Contributions

N.H. and G.Y. conceived the original idea. N.H., C.L., S.P., S.L., and L.X. wrote the manuscript. Y.L., X.H., G.Z., X.Z., Y.L., Q.Y., S.L., S.N., L.S., S.W., and J.Z. edited the manuscript.

Disclaimer Statement

There are no conflicts of interest to declare.

Data Accessibility Statement

All data used here have published in previous papers and presented in Table II in Box 1 and supplementary files. For further data sharing, please contact the corresponding authors ([email protected] or [email protected]).

Glossary

Biogeography: the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time [36].
Ecological modeling: an abstract, usually mathematical, representation of an ecological system (ranging in scale from an individual population, to a community, or even an entire biome), which is studied to better understand the real system [37].
Eddy-flux observation: a key atmospheric measurement technique to measure and calculate vertical turbulent fluxes within atmospheric

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Trends in Ecology & Evolution

OpinionEcosystem Traits Linking Functional Traits to Macroecology

Highlights

Section snippets

Requirement to Bridge Traditional Traits to Macroecology

Current Gaps between Traditional Traits and Macroecology

Toward Defining Ecosystem Traits

Future Direction for Linking Ecosystem Traits to Macroecology

Concluding Remarks

Acknowledgments

Author Contributions

Disclaimer Statement

Data Accessibility Statement

Glossary

Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs.

Ecol. Indic.

Remote Sens. Environ.

Remote Sens. Environ.

Remote Sens. Environ.

Trait evolution, community assembly, and the phylogenetic structure of ecological communities

Am. Nat.

Let the concept of trait be functional

Oikos

Leading dimensions in absorptive root trait variation across 96 subtropical forest species

New Phytol.

Coordinated pattern of multi-element variability in leaves and roots across Chinese forest biomes

Global Ecol. Biogeogr.

Generality of leaf trait relationships: a test across six biomes

Ecology

A global study of relationships between leaf traits, climate and soil measures of nutrient fertility

Glob- Ecol. Biogeogr.

The worldwide leaf economics spectrum

Nature

The global spectrum of plant form and function

Nature

Linking plant and ecosystem functional biogeography

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A.

Relating stomatal conductance to leaf functional traits

J. Vis. Exp.

Sensitivity of community-level trait-environment relationships to data representativeness: a test for functional biogeography

Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr.

Macroecology is distinct from biogeography

Nature

Nutritional constraints in terrestrial and freshwater food webs

Nature

Carbon sequestration in ecosystems: the role of stoichiometry

Ecology

Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition

Nature

BHPMF—a hierarchical Bayesian approach to gap-filling and trait prediction for macroecology and functional biogeography

Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr.

A structured and dynamic framework to advance traits-based theory and prediction in ecology

Ecol. Lett.

Going beyond limitations of plant functional types when predicting global ecosystem-atmosphere fluxes: exploring the merits of traits-based approaches

Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr.

Opinion
Ecosystem Traits Linking Functional Traits to Macroecology