Facilitating comparable research in seedling functional ecology

作者：Daniel E. Winkler, Magda Garbowski, Kevin Kožić, Emma Ladouceur, Julie E. Larson, Sarah R. Martin, Christoph Rosche, Christiane Roscher, Mandy L. Slate, Lotte Korell · 发表于：Methods in Ecology and Evolution · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1111/2041-210x.14288 · 被引用次数：24 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Plant and animal studies、Seedling growth and survival studies

Abstract Ecologists have worked to ascribe function to the variation found in plant populations, communities and ecosystems across environments for at least the past century. The vast body of research in functional ecology has drastically improved understanding of how individuals respond to their environment, communities are assembled and ecosystems function. However, with limited exceptions, few studies have quantified differences in plant function during the earliest stages of the plant life cycle, and fewer have tested how this early variability shapes populations, communities and ecosystems. Drawing from the literature and our collective experience, we describe the current state of knowledge in seedling functional ecology and provide examples of how this subdiscipline can enrich our fundamental understanding of plant function across levels of organisation. To inspire progressive work in this area, we also outline key considerations involved in seedling functional research (who, what, when, where and how to measure seedling traits) and identify remaining challenges and gaps in understanding around methodological approaches. Within this conceptual synthesis, we highlight three critical areas in seedling ecology for future research to target. First, given wide variation in the definition of a ‘seedling’, we provide a standard definition based on seed reserve dependence while emphasising the need to measure ontogenetic variation more clearly both within and following the seed...