Raunkiæran shortfalls: Challenges and perspectives in trait‐based ecology

作者：Francesco de Bello, Felícia M. Fischer, Javier Puy, Bill Shipley, Miguel Verdú, Lars Götzenberger, Sandra Lavorel, Marco Moretti, Ian J. Wright, Matty P. Berg, Carlos P. Carmona, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen, André T. C. Dias, Heloise Gibb, Jan Lepš, Joshua S. Madin, Maria Májeková, Juli G. Pausas, Jules Segrestin, Mar Sobral, Amy E. Zanne, Éric Garnier · 发表于：Ecological Monographs · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1002/ecm.70018 · 被引用次数：36 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies、Species Distribution and Climate Change

Abstract Trait‐based ecology, a prominent research field identifying traits linked to the distribution and interactions of organisms and their impact on ecosystem functioning, has flourished in the last three decades. Yet, the field still grapples with critical challenges, broadly framed as Raunkiæran shortfalls. Recognizing and interconnecting these limitations is vital for designing and prioritizing research objectives and mainstreaming trait‐based approaches across a variety of organisms, trophic levels, and biomes. This strategic review scrutinizes eight major limitations within trait‐based ecology, spanning scales from organisms to the entire biosphere. Challenges range from defining and measuring traits (SF 1), exploring intraspecific variability within and across individuals and populations (SF 2), understanding the complex relationships between trait variation and fitness (SF 3), and discerning trait variations with underlying evolutionary patterns (SF 4). This review extends to community assembly (SF 5), ecosystem functioning and multitrophic relationships (SFs 6 and 7), and global repositories and scaling (SF 8). At the core of trait‐based ecology lies the ambition of scaling up processes from individuals to ecosystems by exploring the ecological strategies of organisms and connecting them to ecosystem functions across multiple trophic levels. Achieving this goal necessitates addressing key limitations embedded in the foundations of trait‐based ecology. After identi...