Trait–Environment Relationships in Plants: Acclimation and Adaptation
A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Ecology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2025) | Viewed by 2235
Special Issue Editor
Interests: functional traits; intraspecific trait variation; invasive species; limiting resources; plant ecology; plant ecophysiology; plasticity; population dynamics; stress tolerance
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Plants require inputs of key resources that can vary substantially over both space and time. The establishment and persistence of a plant species, thus, depends on an individual’s capacity to capture resources from the environment and to use resources effectively towards growth, survival, or reproduction. By examining environmentally driven patterns of variation in plant morphological, physiological, or chemical traits, as well as life history traits, we can better understand and characterize plant ecological strategies. Patterns of trait variation can result from acclimation, which occurs on relatively short timescales, or adaptation, which occurs on much longer, evolutionary timescales. This Special Issue of Plants will present recent studies that investigate how traits, particularly those that reflect resource capture and usage, vary in response to environmental cues via acclimation and adaptation responses. Variation both across and within species is informative for understanding the mechanisms by which plant species respond to the environment. Investigating the mechanisms by which, and consequences of, environmentally driven trait variation is important for more accurate predictions of future responses to environmental change.
We welcome contributions on the following topics:
- Physiological, morphological, anatomical, chemical, and life-history (e.g., plant size at maturity) trait variation across environmental gradients, or across gradients of resource availability.
- Observational or manipulative experiments in the field and under controlled conditions (e.g., glasshouse).
- Studies quantifying trait variation at organ or tissue level (within leaves), or at the whole-plant level (e.g., whole-plant water use).
- Studies that examine eco-evolutionary dynamics using plant traits (e.g., local genetic adaptation versus plasticity, traits promoting fitness, etc.).
- Studies on terrestrial plant species are preferred.
Dr. Andrea C. Westerband
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- ecology
- ecophysiology
- community
- functional traits
- intraspecific trait variation
- local adaptation
- performance
- population
- trait variation
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