Plant functional traits are powerful ecological tools, but the relationships between plant traits
and climate (or environmental variables more broadly) are often remarkably weak. This …

Plant resource allocation patterns often reveal tradeoffs that favor growth (G) over defense
(D), or vice versa. Ecologists most often explain G–D tradeoffs through principles of …

Plant traits determine how individual plants cope with heterogeneous environments. Despite
large variability in individual traits, trait coordination and trade-offs, result in some trait …

The life history strategies of soil microbes determine their metabolic potential and their
response to environmental changes. Yet these strategies remain poorly understood. Here …

Understanding how plant species influence soil nutrient cycling is a major theme in
terrestrial ecosystem ecology. However, the prevailing paradigm has mostly focused on litter …

The leaf economics spectrum (LES) provides a useful framework for examining species
strategies as shaped by their evolutionary history. However, that spectrum, as originally …

Although the above and belowground sizes and shapes of plants strongly influence plant
competition, community structure, and plant–environment interactions, plant sizes and …

For millennia, Amazonian peoples have managed forest resources, modifying the natural
environment in subtle and persistent ways. Legacies of past human occupation are striking …

Biodiversity is defined by trait differences between organisms, and biologists have long
sought to predict associations among ecologically important traits. Why do some traits trade …

Trait-based approaches are being increasingly adopted to understand species' ecological
strategies and how organisms influence ecosystem function. Trait-based research on soil …