Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects.We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives. Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP) and DIVERSITAS, the TRY database (TRY-not an acronym, rather a statement of sentiment; https ://www.try-db.org; Kattge et al., 2011) was proposed with the explicit assignment to improve the availability and accessibility of plant trait data for ecology and earth system sciences. The Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC) offered to host the database and the different groups joined forces for this community-driven program. Two factors were key to the success of TRY: the support and trust of leaders in the field of functional plant ecology submitting large databases and the long-term funding by the Max Planck Society, the MPI-BGC and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, which has enabled the continuous development of the TRY database.
The World's grasslands are under severe threat from on-going degradation, yet they are largely ignored in sustainable development agendas. This degradation is undermining the capacity of grasslands to support biodiversity, ecosystem services, and human wellbeing. In this Perspective, we examine the current state of grasslands worldwide and explore the extent and dominant drivers of global grassland degradation. We identify actions that are critical to the development of socio-ecological solutions to combat degradation and promote restoration of global grasslands. Specifically, we argue that progress can be made by: increasing recognition of grasslands in global policy, developing standardised indicators of grassland degradation, using scientific innovation for effective restoration at regional and landscape scales, and enhancing knowledge transfer and data sharing on restoration experiences. The integration of these strategies into sustainability policy should help to halt grassland degradation and enhance restoration success, and protect the socio-economic, cultural and ecological benefits that grasslands provide.Grasslands, comprising open grassland, grassy shrublands and savannah, cover about 40% of the Earth's surface and some 69% of the world's agricultural land area 1-3 . Not only do they serve as an important global reservoir of biodiversity, including many iconic and endemic species, but also, they provide a wide range of material and non-material benefits to humans and our quality of life. These benefits include a wide range of ecosystem services, such as food production, water supply and regulation, carbon storage and climate mitigation, pollination, and a host of cultural services 1-3 . Despite its importance, grassland degradation is widespread and accelerating in many parts of the world 4-6 with as much as 49% of grassland area worldwide having been degraded to some extent 5,7,8 .Grassland degradation poses an enormous threat to the hundreds of millions of people who rely on grasslands worldwide for food, fuel, fibre and medicinal products, as well as their multiple cultural values 9,10 . In terms of livestock production, the global cost of grassland degradation has been estimated at $6.8 billion 11 , with the impact on human welfare being particularly severe in regions where most the population is below the poverty line Grassland degradation also creates major environmental problems, given that grasslands play a critical role in biodiversity conservation, climate and water regulation, and global biogeochemical cycles 2,4 . For example, the conversion of tropical grassy biomes to arable cropland poses a significant threat to biodiversity given that they have a vertebrate species richness comparable to forests 12 , while the recent expansion of croplands in United States has caused widespread conversion of prairie grasslands, with considerable cost to wildlife 6 . Moreover, the conversion of grasslands to arable cropland and disturbance through overgrazing, fire and invasive species can lead to signif...
Climate change is predicted to result in increased occurrence and intensity of drought in many regions worldwide. By increasing plant physiological stress, drought is likely to affect the floral resources (flowers, nectar and pollen) that are available to pollinators. However, little is known about impacts of drought at the community level, nor whether plant community functional composition influences these impacts. To address these knowledge gaps, we investigated the impacts of drought on floral resources in calcareous grassland. Drought was simulated using rain shelters and the impacts were explored at multiple scales and on four different experimental plant communities varying in functional trait composition. First, we investigated the effects of drought on nectar production of three common wildflower species (Lathyrus pratensis, Onobrychis viciifolia and Prunella vulgaris). In the drought treatment, L. pratensis and P. vulgaris had a lower proportion of flowers containing nectar and O. viciifolia had fewer flowers per raceme. Second, we measured the effects of drought on the diversity and abundance of floral resources across plant communities. Drought reduced the abundance of floral units for all plant communities, irrespective of functional composition, and reduced floral species richness for two of the communities. Functional diversity did not confer greater resistance to drought in terms of maintaining floral resources, probably because the effects of drought were ubiquitous across component plant communities. The findings indicate that drought has a substantial impact on the availability of floral resources in calcareous grassland, which will have consequences for pollinator behaviour and populations.
Microbial ecology provides insights into the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of microbial communities underpinning every ecosystem on Earth. Microbial communities can now be investigated in unprecedented detail, although there is still a wealth of open questions to be tackled. Here we identify 50 research questions of fundamental importance to the science or application of microbial ecology, with the intention of summarising the field and bringing focus to new research avenues. Questions are categorised into seven themes: host-microbiome interactions; health and infectious diseases; human health and food security; microbial ecology in a changing world; environmental processes; functional diversity; and evolutionary processes. Many questions recognise that microbes provide an extraordinary array of functional diversity that can be harnessed to solve real-world problems. Our limited knowledge of spatial and temporal variation in microbial diversity and function is also reflected, as is the need to integrate micro- and macro-ecological concepts, and knowledge derived from studies with humans and other diverse organisms. Although not exhaustive, the questions presented are intended to stimulate discussion and provide focus for researchers, funders and policy makers, informing the future research agenda in microbial ecology.
The study of feedbacks between plants and soils (plant–soil feedbacks; PSFs) is receiving increased attention. However, PSFs have been mostly studied in isolation of abiotic and biotic drivers that could affect their strength and direction. This is problematic because it has led to limited predictive power of PSFs in “the real world,” leaving large knowledge gaps in our ability to predict how PSFs contribute to ecosystem processes and functions. Here, we present a synthetic framework to elucidate how abiotic and biotic drivers affect PSFs. We focus on two key abiotic drivers (temperature and soil moisture) and two key biotic drivers (above‐ground plant consumers and below‐ground top‐down control of pathogens and mutualists). We focus on these factors because they are known drivers of plants and soil organisms and the ecosystem processes they control, and hence would be expected to strongly influence PSFs. Our framework describes the proposed mechanisms behind these drivers and explores their effects on PSFs. We demonstrate the impacts of these drivers using the fast‐ to slow‐growing plant economics spectrum. We use this well‐established paradigm because plants on opposite ends of this spectrum differ in their relationships with soil biota and have developed contrasting strategies to cope with abiotic and biotic environmental conditions. Finally, we present suggestions for improved experimental designs and scientific inference that will capture and elucidate the influence of above‐ and belowground drivers on PSFs. By establishing the role of abiotic and biotic drivers of PSFs, we will be able to make more robust predictions of how PSFs impact on ecosystem function. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.13232/suppinfo is available for this article.
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