Plant Functional Traits

Plant Function Traits: Linking Climate and Ecosystem Functioning, part of the Plant Biology, Sustainability and Climate Change series, presents a wholistic understanding of Plant Functional Traits. As global climate change advances, natural resources are facing increasing survival challenges, hence this book directly addresses that need, exploring the morphological, physiological, and phenological properties of a plant that can be used as a proxy to understand plant environment interactions. Users will find great illustrations throughout individual chapters, along with case studies that demonstrate applications of functional traits in classifying vegetation of a region into distinct type groups as Plant Functional Types (PFTs). Additional information includes applications in the development of new generation of Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (DGVM) and an understanding of the response of vegetation to changing environments.

• Presents foundational insights into multiple functional trait axes
• Describes the quantification of functional traits from individuals to regions
• Includes the role of functional traits in developing new vegetation models for assessing the impact of climate change on plants