<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Plant functional traits are any morphological, physiological and phenological features, which indirectly affect plant fitness through their three basic components of plant individual performance - growth, reproduction and survival. These features represent also a keystone for plant functional groups, which are similar in three aspects - function on the level of organism, response to environmental factors and effect on ecosystems. Functional approach in ecology and vegetation study enables to evaluate plant communities on the base of species function in a community, and to relate functional structure of plant communities to particular environmental gradients. Species plasticity has many aspects that mirror species adaptations to the environmental conditions and which then also translate into functional structuring of plant communities. This approach is thus a novel and exciting mode how to carry on plant ecology, both in research and education at universities.</p></abstract>

Plant functional traits are any morphological, physiological and phenological features, which indirectly affect plant fitness through their three basic components of plant individual performance - growth, reproduction and survival. These features represent also a keystone for plant functional groups, which are similar in three aspects - function on the level of organism, response to environmental factors and effect on ecosystems. Functional approach in ecology and vegetation study enables to evaluate plant communities on the base of species function in a community, and to relate functional structure of plant communities to particular environmental gradients. Species plasticity has many aspects that mirror species adaptations to the environmental conditions and which then also translate into functional structuring of plant communities. This approach is thus a novel and exciting mode how to carry on plant ecology, both in research and education at universities.

Functional Traits and Plasticity of Plants in Ecological Research and Education

Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, SK-842 15 Bratislava, Slovak Republic, phone +421260296340

Chemistry-Didactics-Ecology-Metrology

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Functional Traits and Plasticity of Plants in Ecological Research and Education"}

Plant functional traits are any morphological, physiological and phenological features, which indirectly affect plant fitness through their three basic...

Functional Traits and Plasticity of Plants in Ecological Research and Education

Publié en ligne: 26 janv. 2016

Pages: 59 - 65

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cdem-2015-0006

Mots clés
adaptation, functional ecology, functional groups, plant communities, phenotypic plasticity, vegetation

© 2015 Elena Masarovičová et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Functional Traits and Plasticity of Plants in Ecological Research and Education

Publié en ligne: 26 janv. 2016

Pages: 59 - 65

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/cdem-2015-0006

Mots clésadaptation, functional ecology, functional groups, plant communities, phenotypic plasticity, vegetation

© 2015 Elena Masarovičová et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Mots clés
adaptation, functional ecology, functional groups, plant communities, phenotypic plasticity, vegetation