Plant functional types and disturbance dynamics - Introduction

Plant functional traits and types are useful concepts in relation to disturbance responses of natural and managed ecosystems. To explore their applicability in greater depth, a set of 12 papers presents a broad range of issues from methodologies to the results of particular trait studies in the field, and modelling approaches. So far, empirical studies have only allowed us to identify a few functional traits that are consistently associated with disturbance. To determine the trait variations associated with climate, disturbance history and current disturbance regime as well as the interactions between these factors, global-scale comparisons of numerous individual studies are required. Significant advances toward this ambitious goal are presented in these papers, and include: (1) the articulation of experimental and analytical methodologies for individual studies that could usefully contribute to a global comparison; (2) the identification of core traits that can be used in the further search for disturbance-related traits common to a range of environments; (3) further information on vegetation response to disturbance in terms of trait representation, and the identification of attribute syndromes; (4) the identification of issues for modelling disturbance dynamics using functional types.