Challenging theophrastus: A common core list of plant traits for functional ecology

Journal of Vegetation Science

Volumn 10, Issue 5, 1999, Pages 609-620

  Weiher, Evan ^a   Van Der Werf, Adrie ^b   Thompson, Ken ^c   Roderick, Michael ^d   Garnier, Eric ^e   Eriksson, Ove ^f  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN EAU CLAIRE   (United States)

^b WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY   (Netherlands)

^c UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD   (United Kingdom)

^d AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^e CENTRE D ECOLOGIE FONCTIONNELLE ET EVOLUTIVE   (France)

^f STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY   (Sweden)

Author keywords

Dispersal; Disturbance; Establishment; Functional classification; Leaf water content; Persistence; Plant height; Seed mass; Specific leaf area

Indexed keywords

DISPERSAL; LIFE HISTORY TRAIT;

EID: 0032732669     PISSN: 11009233     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3237076     Document Type: Article

References (116)

1. Aerts, R. 1995. The advantages of being evergreen. Trends Ecol. Evol. 10: 402-407.
2. Aerts, R. & van der Peijl, M.J. 1993. A simple model to explain the dominance of low-productive perennials in nutrient poor habitats. Oikos 66: 144-147.
3. Aronson, J., Kigel, J., Shmida, A. & Klein, J. 1992. Adaptive phenology of desert Mediterranean populations of annual plants grown with and without water stress. Oecologia (Berl.) 89: 17-26.
4. Askew, A.P., Corker, D., Hodkinson, D.J. & Thompson, K. 1997. A new apparatus to measure the rate of fall of seeds. Funct. Ecol. 11: 121-125.
5. Bennett, M.D. 1987. Variation in genomic form in plants and its ecological implications. New Phytol. 106: 177-200.
6. Berendse, F. 1998. Adaptation of plant populations to nutrient-poor environments and their implications for soil nutrient mineralisation. In: Lambers, H., Poorter, H. & van Vuuren, M.M.I, (eds.) Inherent Variation in plant growth. Physiological mechanisms and ecological consequences, pp. 503-514. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
7. Berendse, F. & Aerts, R. 1987. Nitrogen use efficiency: a biologically meaningful definition? Funct. Ecol. 1: 293-296.
8. Boutin, C. & Keddy, P.A. 1992. A functional classification of wetland plants. J. Veg. Sci. 4: 591-600.
9. Bowers, I.E. & Wignall, B. 1993. Shrubs and trees of the Southwest deserts. Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, Tucson, AZ.
10. Box, E.O. 1981. Macroclimate and plant forms: an introduction to predictive modeling in phytogeography. Dr. W. Junk Publishers, The Hague.
11. Box, E.O. 1996. Plant functional types and climate at the global scale. J. Veg. Sci. 7: 309-320.
12. Bradshaw, A.D. 1965. Evolutionary significance of phenotypic plasticity in plants. Adv. Genet. 13: 115-155.
13. Burke, M.J.W. & Grime, J.P. 1996. An experimental study of plant community invasibility. Ecology 77: 776-790.
14. Campbell, B.D. Grime, J.P., & Mackey, J.M.L. 1991. A trade-off between scale and precision in resource foraging. Oecologia (Berl.) 87: 532-538.
15. Chapin, S.F. 1980. The mineral nutrition of wild plants. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 11: 233-260.
16. Clausen, J., Keck, D.D. & Hiesey, W.M. 1940. Experimental studies on the nature of species. I. The effect of varied environments on Western North American plants. Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication No. 520. Washington, DC.
17. Cook, R.E. 1985. Growth and development in clonal plant populations. In: Jackson, J.B.C., Buss, L.W. & Cook, R.E. (eds.) Population biology and evolution of clonal organisms, pp. 259-296. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
18. Comelissen, J.H.C. & Thompson, K. 1997. Functional leaf attributes predict litter dcomposition rate in herbaceous plants. New Phytol. 135: 109-114.
19. de Jong, T.J., Klinkhamer, P.G.L. & Metz, J.A.J. 1987. Selection for biennial life histories in plants. Vegetatio 70: 149-156.
20. Diaz, S. & Cabido, M. 1997. Plant functional types and ecosystem function in relation to global change. J. Veg. Sci. 8: 463-474.
21. Diaz, S., Acosta, A. & Cabido, M. 1992. Morphological analysis of herbaceous communities under different grazing regimes. J. Veg. Sci. 3: 689-696.
22. Eckstein, R.L., Karlsson, P.S. & Weih, M. 1999. Life span and nutrient resorption as determinants of plant nutrient conservation in temperate-arctic regions. New Phytol. 143: 177-190.
23. Eriksson, O. 1996. Regional dynamics of plants: a review of evidence for remnant, source-sink and metapopulations. Oikos 77: 248-258.
24. Eriksson, O. & Bremer, B. 1991. Fruit characteristics, life forms, and species richness in the plant family Rubiaceae. Am. Nat. 138: 751-761.
25. Funes, G., Basconcelo, S., Diaz, S. & Cabido, M. In press. Seed size and shape are good predictors of seed persistence in soil in temperate mountain grasslands of Argentina. Seed Sci. Res.
26. Garnier, E. 1992. Growth analysis of congeneric annual and perennial grass species. J. Ecol. 80: 665-675.
27. Garnier, E. 1998. Interspecific variation in plasticity of grasses in response to nitrogen supply. In: Cheplick, G.P. (ed.) Population biology of grasses, pp. 155-182. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
28. Garnier, E. & Aronson, J. 1998. Nitrogen use efficiency from leaf to stand level: clarifying the concept. In: Lambers, H., Poorter, H. & van Vuuren, M. (eds.), Inherent variation in plant growth. Physiological mechanisms and ecological consequences, pp. 515-538. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
29. Garnier, E. & Laurent, G. 1994. Leaf anatomy, specific mass and water content in congeneric annual and perennial grass species. New Phytol. 128: 725-736.
30. Gaudet, C.L. & Keddy, P.A. 1988. A comparative approach to predicting competitive ability from plant traits. Nature 334: 242.
31. Gillison, A.N. & Carpenter, G. 1997. A generic plant functional attribute set and grammar for dynamic vegetation description and analysis. Funct. Ecol. 11: 775-783.
32. Goldberg, D.E. 1997. Competitive ability: definitions, contingency, and correlated traits. In: Silvertown, J., Franco, M., & Harper, J.L. (eds.) Plant life histories, pp. 283-306. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
33. Goldberg, D.E. & Landa, K. 1991. Competitive effect and response: hierarchies and correlated traits in the early stages of competition. J. Ecol. 79: 1013-1030.
34. Grime, J.P. 1977. Evidence for the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance to ecological and evolutionary theory. Am. Nat. 111: 1169-1195.
35. Grime, J.P. 1979. Plant strategies and vegetation processes. Wiley and Sons, New York, NY.
36. Grime, J.P. 1994. The role of plasticity in exploring environmental heterogeneity. In: Caldwell, M.M & Pearcy, R.W. (eds.) Exploitation of environmental heterogeneity by plants: ecophysiological processes above- and below-ground, pp. 1-19. Academic Press, New York, NY.
37. Grime, J.P. & Hunt, R. 1975. Relative growth rate: its range and adaptive significance in a local flora. J. Ecol. 63: 393-422.
38. Grime, J.P. & Jeffery, D.W. 1965. Seedling establishment in vertical gradients of sunlight. J. Ecol. 53: 621-634.
39. Grime, J.P. Hodgson, J.G. & Hunt, R. 1988. Comparative plant ecology: a functional approach to common British species. Unwin-Hyman, London.
40. Grime, J.P. et al. 1997. Integrated screening validates primary axis of specialisation in plants. Oikos 79: 259-281.
41. Gross, K.L. 1984. Effects of seed size and growth form on seedling establishment of six monocarpic perennial plants. J. Ecol. 72: 369-387.
42. Gross, K.L. & Werner, P.A. 1982. Colonizing abilities of 'biennial' plant species in relation to ground cover: implications for their distributions in a successional sere. Ecology 63: 921-931.
43. Grubb, P.J. 1977. The maintenance of species-richness in plant communities: the importance of the regeneration niche. Biol. Rev. Cambr. Phil. Soc. 52: 107-145.
44. Hendry, G. A. F. & Grime, J. P. 1993. Methods in comparative plant ecology: a laboratory manual. Chapman & Hall, London.
45. Hodgson, J.G. & Thompson, K. 1993. Size. In: Hendry, G.A.F. & Grime, J.P. (eds.) Methods in comparative plant ecology, pp. 202-205. Chapman & Hall, London.
46. Hodgson, J.G., Wilson, P.J., Hunt R., Grime J.P. & Thompson, K. 1999. Allocating C-S-R plant functional types: a soft approach to a hard problem. Oikos 85: 282-296.
47. Hughes, L., Dunlop, M., French, K., Leishman, M.R., Rice, B., Rodgerson, L. & Westoby, M. 1994. Predicting dispersal spectra: a minimal set of hypotheses based on plant attributes. J. Ecol. 82: 933-950.
48. Jurado, E. & Westoby, M. 1992. Seedling growth in relation to seed size among species of arid Australia. J. Ecol. 80: 407-416.
49. Keddy, P.A. 1992. A pragmatic approach to functional ecology. Funct. Ecol. 6: 621-626.
50. Keddy, P., Fraser, L.H. & Wisheu, I.C. 1998. A comparative approach to examine competitive response of 48 wetland plant species. J. Veg. Sci. 9: 777-786.
51. Keddy, P.A., Twolan-Strutt, L. & Wisheu, I.C. 1994. Competitive effect and response rankings in 20 wetland plants: are they consistent across three environments? J. Ecol. 82: 635-643.
52. Kiviniemi, K. 1996. A study of adhesive seed dispersal of three species under natural conditions. Acta Bot. Neerl. 45: 73-83.
53. Klimeš, L., Klimešova, J., Hendriks, R.J.J. & van Groenendael, J.M. 1997. Clonal plant forms: classification, distribution and phylogeny. In: de Kroon, H. & van Groenendael, J.M. (eds.) The ecology and evolution of clonal plants. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
54. Lambers, H. & Poorter, H. 1992. Inherent variation in growth rates between higher plants: a search for physiological causes and higher consequences. Adv. Ecol. Res. 23: 188-261.
55. Lambers, H., Chapin, F.S. & Pons, T.L. 1998. Plant physiological ecology. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY.
56. Lambers, H., Poorter, H. & van Vuuren, M.M.I, (eds.) 1998. Inherent variation in plant growth. Physiological mechanisms and ecological consequences. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
57. Lavorel, S., McIntyre, S., Landsberg, J. & Forbes, T.D.A. 1997. Plant functional classifications: from general groups to specific groups based on response to disturbance. Trends Ecol. Evol. 12: 474-478.
58. Lee, W.G. & Fenner, M. 1989. Mineral nutrition allocation in seeds and shoots of 12 Chionochloa sp. in relation to soil fertility. J. Ecol. 77: 704-716.
59. Leishman, M.R. 1999. How well do plant traits correlate with establishment ability? Evidence from a study of 16 calcareous grassland species. New Phytol. 141: 487-496.
60. Leishman, M.R. & Westoby, M. 1992. Classifying plants into groups on the basis of associations of individual traitsevidence from Australian semi-arid woodlands. J. Ecol. 80: 417-424.
61. Leishman, M.R. & Westoby, M. 1994. The role of large seed size in shaded conditions: experimental evidence. Funct. Ecol. 8: 205-214.
62. Leishman, M.R. & Westoby, M. 1998. Seed size and shape are not related to persistence in soil in Australia in the same way as in Britain. Funct. Ecol. 12: 480-485.
63. Leishman, M.R., Westoby, M. & Jurado, E. 1995. Correlates of seed size variation: a comparison among five temperate floras. J. Ecol. 83: 517-530.
64. MacGillivray, C. W. & Grime, J. P. 1995a. Testing predictions of the resistance and resilience of vegetation subjected to extreme events. Funct. Ecol. 9: 640-649.
65. MacGillivray, C.W. & Grime, J.P. 1995b. Genome size predicts frost resistance in British herbaceous plants: implications for rates of vegetation response to global warming. Funct. Ecol. 9: 320-325.
66. Mazer, S.J. 1989. Ecological, taxonomic, and life-history correlates of seed mass among Indiana dune angiosperms. Ecol. Monogr. 59: 123-175.
67. McIntyre, S., Lavorel, S., Landsberg, J.T. & Forbes, T.D.A. 1999. Disturbance response in vegetation - towards a global perspective on functional traits. J. Veg. Sci. 10: 621-630. (This issue.)
68. Morton, A.G. 1981. History of botanical science. Academic Press, London.
69. Noble, I.R. & Slatyer, R.O. 1980. The use of vital attributes to predict successional changes in plant communities subject to recurrent disturbances. Vegetatio 43: 5-21.
70. Osunkoya, O.O., Ash, J.E., Hopkins, M.S. & Graham, A.W. 1994. Influence of seed size and seedling ecological attributes on shade tolerance of rainforest tree species in northern Queensland. J. Ecol. 82: 149-163.
71. Poorter, H. & Bergkotte, M. 1992. Chemical composition of 24 wild species differing in relative growth rate. Plant Cell Environ. 15: 221-229.
72. Poorter, H. & Garnier, E. 1999. Ecological significance of inherent variation in relative growth rate and its components. In: Pugnaire, F.I. & Valladares, F. (eds.) Handbook of functional plant ecology, pp. 81-120. Marcel Dekker, New York, NY.
73. Poorter, H. & Remkes, C. 1990. Leaf area ratio and net assimilation rate of 24 wild species differing in relative growth rate. Oecologia (Berl.) 83: 553-559.
74. Poorter, H. & van der Werf, A. 1998. Is inherent variation in RGR determined by LAR at low irradiance and by NAR at high irradiance? A review of herbaceous species. In: Lambers, H., Poorter, H. & van Vuuren, M.M.I, (eds.) Inherent variation in plant growth. Physiological mechanisms and ecological consequences, pp. 309-336. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
75. Radford, A.E., Ahles, H.E. & Bell, C.R. 1968. Manual of the vascular flora of the Carolinas. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC.
76. Raunkiaer, C. 1937. Plant life forms. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
77. Reader, R.J. 1993. Control of seedling emergence by ground cover and seed predation in relation to seed size for some old-field species. J. Ecol. 81: 169-175.
78. Reich, P.B. 1998. Variation among plant species in leaf turnover rate and associated traits: implications for growth at all life stages. In: Lambers, H., Poorter, H. & van Vuuren, M.M.I. (eds.) Inherent variation in plant growth. Physiological mechanisms and ecological consequences, pp. 467-487. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
79. Reich, P.B., Walters, M.B. & Ellsworth, D.S. 1992. Leaf lifespan in relation to leaf, plant, and stand characteristics among diverse ecosystems. Ecol. Monogr. 62: 365-392.
80. Reich, P.B., Walters, M.B. & Ellsworth, D.S. 1997. From tropics to tundra: Global convergence in plant functioning. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 94: 13730-13734.
81. Reynolds, H.L. & D'Antonio, C.M. 1996. The ecological significance of plasticity in root weight ratio in response to nitrogen: Opinion. Plant Soil 185: 75-97.
82. Ryser, P. 1996. The importance of tissue density for growth and life span of leaves and roots: a comparison of five ecologically contrasting grasses. Funct. Ecol. 10: 717-723.
83. Schläpfer, B. & Ryser, P. 1996. Leaf and root turnover of three ecologically contrasting grass species in relation to their performance along a productivity gradient. Oikos 75: 398-406.
84. Schlichting, C.D. 1986. The evolution of phenotypic plasticity in plants. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 17: 667-693.
85. Shipley, B. 1995. Structured interspecific determinants of specific leaf area in 34 species of herbaceous angiosperms. Funct. Ecol. 9: 312-319.
86. Shipley, B. & Keddy, P.A. 1988. The relationship between relative growth rate and sensitivity to nutrient stress in twenty-eight species of emergent macrophytes. J. Ecol. 76: 1101-1110.
87. Shipley, B. & Dion, J. 1992. The allometry of seed production in herbaceous angiosperms. Am. Nat. 139: 467-483.
88. Shipley, B. & Parent, M. 1991. Germination responses of 94 wetland species in relation to seed size, minimum time to reproduction, and seedling relative growth rate. Funct. Ecol. 5: 111-118.
89. Shipley, B. & Peters, R.H. 1990. The allometry of seed weight and seedling relative growth rate. Funct. Ecol. 4: 523-529.
90. Shipley, B., Keddy, P.A., Moore, D.R.J. & Lemky, K. 1989. Regeneration and establishment strategies of emergent macrophytes. J. Ecol. 77: 1093-1110.
91. Silvertown, J.W. 1981. Seed size, life-span and germination date as coadapted features of plant life history. Am. Nat. 118: 860-864.
92. Silvertown, J. & Dodd, M. 1996. Comparing plants and connecting traits. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Loud. B 351: 1233-1239.
93. Silvertown, J., Franco, M. & Harper, J.L. (eds.) 1997. Plant life histories. Ecology, phylogeny and evolution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
94. Smith, T. & Huston, M. 1989. A theory of the spatial and temporal dynamics of plant communities. Vegetatio 83: 49-69.
95. Swanborough, P. & Westoby, M. 1996. Seedling relative growth rate and its components in relation to seed size: phylogenetically independent contrasts. Funct. Ecol. 10: 176-184.
96. Thompson, K. 1993a. Persistence in soil. In: Hendry, G.A.F. & Grime, J.P. (eds.) Methods in comparative plant ecology, pp. 199-202. Chapman & Hall, London.
97. Thompson, K. 1993b. Morphology and color. In: Hendry, G.A.F. & Grime, J.P. (eds.) Methods in comparative plant ecology, pp. 194-196. Chapman & Hall, London.
98. Thompson, K., Band, S.R. & Hodgson, J.G. 1993. Seed size and shape predict persistence in soil. Funct. Ecol 7: 236-241.
99. Thompson, K., Bakker, J.P. & Bekker, R.M. 1997. The soil seed banks of North West Europe: methodology, density and longevity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
100. Thompson, K., Bakker, J.P., Bekker, R.M. & Hodgson, J.G. 1998. Ecological correlates of seed persistence in soil in the north-west European flora. J. Ecol. 86: 163-169.
101. Tilman, D. 1994. Competition and biodiversity in spatially structured habitats. Ecology 75: 2-16.
102. Turesson, G. 1922. The genotypical response of the plant species to the habitat. Hereditas 3: 211-350.
103. van der Pijl, L. 1982. Principles of dispersal in higher plants. Springer, Berlin.
104. van der Werf, A., Geerts, R.H.E.M., Jacobs, F.H.H., Korevaar, H., Oomes, M.J.M & de Visser, W. 1998. The importance of relative growth rate and associated traits for competition between species during vegetation succession. In: Lambers, H., Poorter, H. & van Vuuren, M.M.I, (eds.) Inherent variation in plant growth. Physiological mechanisms and ecological consequences, pp. 489-502. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
105. van der Werf, A. van Nuenen, M., Visser, A.J. & Lambers, H. 1993a. Contribution of physiological and morphological plant traits to a species' competitive ability at high and low nitrogen supply. Oecologia (Berl.) 94: 434-440.
106. van der Werf, A., Visser, A.J., Schieving, F. & Lambers, H. 1993b. Evidence for optimal partitioning of biomass and nitrogen at a range of nitrogen availabilities for a fast- and slow-growing species. Funct. Ecol. 7: 63-74.
107. van Groenendael, J.M., Klimeš, L., Klimešova, J. & Hendriks, R.J.J. 1997. Comparative ecology of clonal plants. In: Harper, J.L., Silvertown, J. & Franco, M. (eds.) Plant life histories, pp. 191-209. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
108. Venable, L.D. & Levin, D.A. 1983. Morphological dispersal structures in relation to growth habit in the Compositae. Plant Syst. Evol. 143: 1-16.
109. Weiher, E. & Keddy, P.A. 1999. Assembly rules as general constraints on community composition. In: Weiher, E. & Keddy, P.A. (eds.) Ecological assembly rules; perpectives, advances, retreats, pp. 251-271. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
110. Weiher, E., Clarke, G.D.P. & Keddy, P.A. 1998. Community assembly rules, morphological dispersion, and the coexistence of plant species. Oikos 81: 309-322.
111. Westoby, M. 1998. A leaf-height-seed (LHS) plant ecology strategy scheme. Plant Soil 199: 213-227.
112. Westoby, M., Leishman, M. & Lord, J. 1996. Comparative ecology of seed size and dispersal. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Land. B 351: 1309-1318.
113. Willson, M.F. 1993. Dispersal mode, seed shadows and colonization patterns. Vegetatio 107/108: 261-280.
114. Wilson, P.J., Thompson, K. & Hodgson, J.G. 1999. Specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content as alternative predictors of plant strategies. New Phytol. 143: 155-162.
115. Woodward, F.I. 1987. Climate and plant distribution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
116. Woodward, F.I., Smith, T.M. & Emanuel, W.R. 1995. A global land primary productivity and phytogeography model. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 9: 471-490.