Aix Marseille Université, Université d'Avignon, CNRS, IRD, IMBE, Facultés St Jérôme, case 421, 13397, Marseille, France.
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Science and Conservation, Locked Bag 104, Bentley Delivery Centre, Bentley, WA, 6983, Australia.
New Phytol. 2019 Mar;221(4):1764-1775. doi: 10.1111/nph.15502. Epub 2018 Oct 25.
Trait-based approaches have improved our understanding of plant evolution, community assembly and ecosystem functioning. A major challenge for the upcoming decades is to understand the functions and evolution of early life-history traits, across levels of organization and ecological strategies. Although a variety of seed traits are critical for dispersal, persistence, germination timing and seedling establishment, only seed mass has been considered systematically. Here we suggest broadening the range of morphological, physiological and biochemical seed traits to add new understanding on plant niches, population dynamics and community assembly. The diversity of seed traits and functions provides an important challenge that will require international collaboration in three areas of research. First, we present a conceptual framework for a seed ecological spectrum that builds upon current understanding of plant niches. We then lay the foundation for a seed-trait functional network, the establishment of which will underpin and facilitate trait-based inferences. Finally, we anticipate novel insights and challenges associated with incorporating diverse seed traits into predictive evolutionary ecology, community ecology and applied ecology. If the community invests in standardized seed-trait collection and the implementation of rigorous databases, major strides can be made at this exciting frontier of functional ecology.
基于特征的方法提高了我们对植物进化、群落组装和生态系统功能的理解。未来几十年的一个主要挑战是理解早期生活史特征的功能和进化，跨越组织和生态策略的各个层次。尽管各种种子特征对于传播、持久性、萌发时间和幼苗建立至关重要，但只有种子质量被系统地考虑。在这里，我们建议拓宽形态学、生理学和生物化学种子特征的范围，以增加对植物生态位、种群动态和群落组装的新认识。种子特征和功能的多样性提出了一个重要的挑战，这将需要在三个研究领域进行国际合作。首先，我们提出了一个基于当前植物生态位理解的种子生态谱的概念框架。然后，我们为种子特征功能网络奠定了基础，该网络的建立将为基于特征的推理提供支持和便利。最后，我们预计将各种种子特征纳入预测进化生态学、群落生态学和应用生态学将带来新的见解和挑战。如果社区投资于标准化的种子特征收集和严格数据库的实施，那么在功能生态学的这个令人兴奋的前沿领域就可以取得重大进展。
