Causes of plant functional trait variability under environmental change and consequences for biogeochemical processes

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Objectives Turning forests into agricultural lands has caused unprecedented disruptions to Earth's living and non-living systems. The greatest impacts are pervasive changes to global nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) cycles. As forests are replaced by croplands, the diversity of traits that underpin how plants function within ecosystems are being drastically reduced or altered, disrupting the cycling of C and N. These functional traits are the biochemical, physiological, and morphological characteristics of plants that govern both plant responses to environmental conditions, and plant impacts on ecosystem processes. Research on the extent and causes of trait variability-such as the program proposed here-would provide a deeper understanding of how and why Earth's ecosystem processes have changed, are changing, and are predicted to change. My long-term research aim is to understand how variation in plant traits influences biogeochemical cycles in managed and natural ecosystems. This achievable through a program that integrates three research themes focused on (1) functional traits in trees and forest ecosystem processes; (2) functional traits in crops and agroecosystem processes; and (3) global shifts in plant functional trait diversity through land-use change. This dynamic program relies on a powerful combination of field, lab, and open access data research, spans a range of terrestrial ecosystems, and uses multiple cutting-edge scientific techniques, instrumentation, and databases. Impact In reaching my short-term goals, this research will significantly advance global change science by revealing a richer understanding of the extent and causes of trait variation in trees and staple food crops, and then applying this understanding to explain and predict ongoing and future ecosystem processes. This research will most affect scientists working at the intersection of global change biology, forest and agroecology, plant ecophysiology, and biogeochemistry. By providing high-quality trait data for many of the world's most common crops and trees, and analyses on trait-ecosystem function relationships, this research will also be important for applied ecosystem biogeochemical modelling, food security forecasting and policy, and land--use planning and management. Expected Outcomes I anticipate this program to train 7 graduate-level scientists, who will lead over 10 papers and scientific presentations. This program will substantially strengthen not only our understanding of (1) how Canada's forests may be used in strategies to mitigate climate change, but also for making (2) long-term predictions of the production and sustainability of Canada's agricultural lands, and (3) projections of how plant diversity and ecosystem processes in Canada's ecosystems are likely to change in the future. Crucially, these contributions will have tangible policy benefits, including how Canada could viably meet its 2016 Paris Agreement commitments to mitigating climate change.