Getting to the roots of trait-based plant ecology

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Two of the biggest challenges in ecology are to predict (i) how biodiversity will respond to environmental changes, and, in turn, (ii) how changing biodiversity will alter the functioning of ecosystems. Approaches that focus on functional traits of organisms - morphological or physiological characters that determine individual performance in a given environment - offer a promising way to tackle these two challenges. However, recent research in plant functional ecology has focused almost exclusively on a set of easily-measured leaf traits. In contrast, ecologically relevant traits that directly influence soil resource acquisition have received much less attention, despite the fact that soil resource availability is a key driver of vegetation composition and terrestrial productivity worldwide. Moreover, human activities are altering nutrient cycles at unprecedented rates, with major consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. In particular, atmospheric deposition of nitrogen (N) from fossil fuel combustion is fertilising ecosystems worldwide. This fundamentally alters nutrient balance in ecosystems and can lead to shifts from N to phosphorus (P) limitation of plant growth. Using two different `natural experiments' where series of ecosystems show clear shifts from N to P limitation, I will explore the relationships between leaf and root traits among plant species in order to predict plant community composition and diversity. I will also determine how plant traits drive root and leaf litter decomposition under N or P limitation. This is important because decomposition controls nutrient cycling and carbon (C) storage. My research will help us to better forecast the functional consequences of changing plant biodiversity following nutrient pollution.