宏观生态学中的植物功能性状研究:历史与发展趋势

Current and future trends of plant functional traits in macro-ecology

植物功能性状通常是指能直接或间接影响植物生长、存活和繁殖的形态学、生理学和物候学等相对稳定和可测量的特征参数。经过多年发展,植物功能性状的定义、内涵以及测量手段已经科学化和规范化,人们利用在不同地点、不同时间测定的数据,深入阐述了植物功能性状的种内与种间变异、区域乃至全球植物功能性状的空间变异规律及其调控机制、多种功能性状间的协同与权衡以及植物功能性状的演化等。随着20世纪90年代开始的大尺度和全球整合型植物功能性状数据库的逐步建成,植物功能性状的研究已经不再局限于个体、特定群落和局域尺度:一方面,区域和全球的植物功能性状生物地理学研究蓬勃发展;另一方面,植物功能性状研究也逐步被拓展到群落物种共存机制、生态系统功能形成与变异等的机理解释。随着植物功能性状研究逐步深入到复杂的自然群落或生态系统,科研人员发现传统“零星数据收集性数据库”难以很好地满足相关数据要求,迫切需要考虑与群落复杂性和植物不同器官功能性状相匹配的新型数据库,该数据库的基本要求和特色是基于原位群落调查和多种功能性状协同测量。随着科学概念和新型数据库的发展,相关研究呈现出如下发展趋势:1)进一步强调了植物不同器官间功能性状的协同机制与权衡关系,并力争从植物整体观探讨植物对资源环境变化的响应与适应机制;2)强调多种功能性状对资源环境变化的多维度响应与适应机制,发展了植物功能性状网络理论体系和技术手段;3)强调了植物群落结构复杂性,利用群落内部植物功能性状的分布和功能多样性指数探究群落构建机制;4)完善了植物功能性状从器官-物种-群落-生态系统拓展理论体系,进一步搭建了以植物群落功能性为核心的宏观生态学与宏观地学等多学科的桥梁。这些新发展趋势,让传统功能性状研究逐步深入地走进自然生态系统、社会系统和经济系统,进而推动以功能性状为基础的整合生态学快速发展,服务于区域生态环境问题的解决。

Plant functional traits are generally defined as relatively stable and measurable morphological,physiological,and phenological characteristics of plants that can indirectly affect plant growth,reproduction,and survival.Years of development have enabled the standardization of the definition,connotation,and measurement methods of plant functional traits.Now,the intraspecific and interspecific variation,biogeographic patterns,coordination,and the evolution of plant functional traits have been well explored.The gradual development of global plant functional trait databases since the 1990s has led to the expansion of plant functional traits beyond individual and local scales.Regional and global biogeographical studies on plant functional traits are gradually exploring community species coexistence mechanisms and maintenance of ecosystem functions.Researchers have found that traditional plant trait databases,which were created from published studies,have insufficient data to provide answers to questions about natural ecosystems.Therefore,constructing a plant trait database that considers compatibility and orderliness is crucial.As new databases and scientific concepts have emerged,the following areas have become the focus of studies on plant functional traits:1)coordination between functional traits of different plant organs,and holistic examination of plant response to environmental changes;2)multi-dimensional response and adaptation of various plant functional traits,and proposal of the concept of a plant trait network;3)consideration of the complexity of plant community structure,and exploration of community assembly using plant functional diversity and trait moments;and 4)refinement of the scaling method for different levels of ecological organization,and recognition of plant community and ecosystem traits as critical bridges between plant traits and macroecology.These directions have pushed for the application of traditional functional trait research to natural,social,and economic systems,thus promoting the rapid development of trait-based studies to further solve regional eco-environmental problems.