How Leaf Traits Help Us Understand the Future of Grasslands |

[ad_1] Kuo Sun and Zhenzhu Xu, Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discuss their article: Global coordination and trade-off of grassland species traits and climatic drivers Grasslands stretch across vast parts of the world — from the wide prairies of North America to Africa’s savannas and the steppes of Asia. These landscapes […]

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Functional traits are important predictors of tree growth but their effects vary with age and leaf habit. |

[ad_1] Mégane Déziel, Université du Québec à Montréal, discusses her article: Resolving the Effects of Functional Traits on Tree Growth Rates: The Influence of Temporal Dynamics and Divergent Strategies by Leaf Habit Functional ecology has long assumed that variation in tree growth reflects differences in functional traits, which serve as proxies for resource acquisition and […]

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How Plants Play the Game of Survival |

[ad_1] Ruiling Liu and Wenyong Guo, East China Normal University, discuss their article: Grime’s CSR theory revisited: A whole-plant view of vascular plant functioning across contrasting environments You might think plants are quiet and slow, but their lives are full of strategy. Some race ahead, dominating fertile fields, while others hang on stubbornly in rocky […]

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How forest layers work together to keep ecosystems functioning |

[ad_1] Jie Li, Beijing Forestry University in China, discusses their article: Cross-scale effects of multi-strata plant diversity on ecosystem multifunctionality in temperate forests What makes a forest thrive? While we often admire towering trees in a forest, what happens under their shade—the herbs, ferns, and small plants carpeting the forest floor—can be just as important. […]

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Nectar sugar concentration matters in shaping bee-flower interactions |

[ad_1] Chun-Feng Yang, Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discusses their article: Nectar sugar concentration contributes to structuring bumble bee and plant interactions Why do flowers vary their nectar sugar concentrations? Producing nectar entails significant energetic costs for plants, with investment strongly correlated to sugar concentration. It is therefore believed that interspecific […]

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Quantifying and Explaining the Transformation of Tundra Landscapes |

[ad_1] Anna Derkacheva, Gerald “JJ” Frost, Howie Epstein, and Ksenia Ermokhina, of HSE University in Russia, Alaska Biological Research, Inc., the University of Virginia, and the Russian Academy of Sciences (respectively), discuss their article: Landscape patterns of shrubification in the Siberian low arctic: A machine learning perspective The Arctic tundra is experiencing some of the […]

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Which non-native plants tend to occupy similar climates at home and far away from home? |

[ad_1] Marc Riera, Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), discusses his article: Climatic niche conservatism in non-native plants is largely dependent on their climatic niche breadth in the native range Setting the scene: niche conservatism in the context of biological invasions The Biosphere is on the move. Thousands of species are jumping from […]

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Liana diversity and density in Ghana show positive association with precipitation, precisely opposite to pantropical trends |

[ad_1] Bismark Ofosu-Bamfo, University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani, Ghana, discusses his article: Patterns and drivers of liana community structure across five forest ecosystem types in Ghana In recent years, ecologists in the tropics have dedicated a good amount of research to understand the pattern and drivers of community assemblages of woody climbing […]

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Reinforcing the Core of Ecosystem Health

[ad_1] Xiaobo Yuan and Yaodan Zhang, from Lanzhou University in China, discuss their article: Soil microbial networks mediate long-term effects of nitrogen fertilization on ecosystem multiservices Nitrogen (N) fertilization caused by anthropogenic activities such as fertilizer application and fossil fuel combustion have significantly impacted the capacity of ecosystems to support key services such as nutrient […]

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How do hundreds of tree species occupy tropical forests? Large tree fall gaps might hold the answer |

[ad_1] Damla Cinoğlu and Caroline Farrior, University of Texas at Austin, discuss their article: Small disturbances and subsequent competition for light can maintain a diversity of demographic strategies in a neotropical forest: Results from model-data integration Tropical forests are one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They are fundamental for managing the global carbon budget […]

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