Ecological data often show temporal, spatial, hierarchical (random effects), or phylogenetic
structure. Modern statistical approaches are increasingly accounting for such dependencies …

The use of functional diversity analyses in ecology has grown exponentially over the past
two decades, broadening our understanding of biological diversity and its change across …

Plant functional traits can predict community assembly and ecosystem functioning and are
thus widely used in global models of vegetation dynamics and land–climate feedbacks. Still …

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 …

Functional diversity (FD), the diversity of organism attributes that relates to their interactions
with the abiotic and biotic environment, has been increasingly used for the last two decades …

Functional ecology is the branch of ecology that focuses on various functions that species
play in the community or ecosystem in which they occur. This accessible guide offers the …

Earth is home to a remarkable diversity of plant forms and life histories, yet comparatively
few essential trait combinations have proved evolutionarily viable in today's terrestrial …

A plethora of different theories, models, and concepts make up the field of community
ecology. Amid this vast body of work, is it possible to build one general theory of ecological …

One of ecology's grand challenges is develo** general rules to explain and predict highly
complex systems. Understanding and predicting ecological processes from species' traits …

SUMMARY A balanced gut microbiota contributes to health, but the mechanisms
maintaining homeostasis remain elusive. Microbiota assembly during infancy is governed by …