Pedro Jaureguiberry

Bio: Pedro Jaureguiberry is an academic researcher from National University of Cordoba. The author has contributed to research in topics: Ecosystem & Ecosystem services. The author has an hindex of 8, co-authored 19 publications receiving 2549 citations. Previous affiliations of Pedro Jaureguiberry include National Scientific and Technical Research Council.

New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide

Abstract: Plant functional traits are the features (morphological, physiological, phenological) that represent ecological strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels and influence ecosystem properties. Variation in plant functional traits, and trait syndromes, has proven useful for tackling many important ecological questions at a range of scales, giving rise to a demand for standardised ways to measure ecologically meaningful plant traits. This line of research has been among the most fruitful avenues for understanding ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. It also has the potential both to build a predictive set of local, regional and global relationships between plants and environment and to quantify a wide range of natural and human-driven processes, including changes in biodiversity, the impacts of species invasions, alterations in biogeochemical processes and vegetation–atmosphere interactions. The importance of these topics dictates the urgent need for more and better data, and increases the value of standardised protocols for quantifying trait variation of different species, in particular for traits with power to predict plant- and ecosystem-level processes, and for traits that can be measured relatively easily. Updated and expanded from the widely used previous version, this handbook retains the focus on clearly presented, widely applicable, step-by-step recipes, with a minimum of text on theory, and not only includes updated methods for the traits previously covered, but also introduces many new protocols for further traits. This new handbook has a better balance between whole-plant traits, leaf traits, root and stem traits and regenerative traits, and puts particular emphasis on traits important for predicting species’ effects on key ecosystem properties. We hope this new handbook becomes a standard companion in local and global efforts to learn about the responses and impacts of different plant species with respect to environmental changes in the present, past and future.

Corrigendum to: New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide

Abstract: Plant functional traits are the features (morphological, physiological, phenological) that represent ecological strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels and influence ecosystem properties. Variation in plant functional traits, and trait syndromes, has proven useful for tackling many important ecological questions at a range of scales, giving rise to a demand for standardised ways to measure ecologically meaningful plant traits. This line of research has been among the most fruitful avenues for understanding ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. It also has the potential both to build a predictive set of local, regional and global relationships between plants and environment and to quantify a wide range of natural and human-driven processes, including changes in biodiversity, the impacts of species invasions, alterations in biogeochemical processes and vegetation–atmosphere interactions. The importance of these topics dictates the urgent need for more and better data, and increases the value of standardised protocols for quantifying trait variation of different species, in particular for traits with power to predict plant- and ecosystem-level processes, and for traits that can be measured relatively easily. Updated and expanded from the widely used previous version, this handbook retains the focus on clearly presented, widely applicable, step-by-step recipes, with a minimum of text on theory, and not only includes updated methods for the traits previously covered, but also introduces many new protocols for further traits. This new handbook has a better balance between whole-plant traits, leaf traits, root and stem traits and regenerative traits, and puts particular emphasis on traits important for predicting species' effects on key ecosystem properties. We hope this new handbook becomes a standard companion in local and global efforts to learn about the responses and impacts of different plant species with respect to environmental changes in the present, past and future.

Towards a thesaurus of plant characteristics: an ecological contribution

Abstract: Ecological research produces a tremendous amount of data, but the diversity in scales and topics covered and the ways in which studies are carried out result in large numbers of small, idiosyncratic data sets using heterogeneous terminologies. Such heterogeneity can be attributed, in part, to a lack of standards for acquiring, organizing and describing data. Here, we propose a terminological resource, a Thesaurus Of Plant characteristics (TOP), whose aim is to harmonize and formalize concepts for plant characteristics widely used in ecology. TOP concentrates on two types of plant characteristics: traits and environmental associations. It builds on previous initiatives for several aspects: (i) characteristics are designed following the entity-quality (EQ) model (a characteristic is modelled as the ‘Quality’ of an ‘Entity’ ) used in the context of Open Biological Ontologies; (ii) whenever possible, the Entities and Qualities are taken from existing terminology standards, mainly the Plant Ontology (PO) and Phenotypic Quality Ontology (PATO) ontologies; and (iii) whenever a characteristic already has a definition, if appropriate, it is reused and referenced. The development of TOP, which complies with semantic web principles, was carried out through the involvement of experts from both the ecology and the semantics research communities. Regular updates of TOP are planned, based on community feedback and involvement. TOP provides names, definitions, units, synonyms and related terms for about 850 plant characteristics. TOP is available online (www.top-thesaurus.org), and can be browsed using an alphabetical list of characteristics, a hierarchical tree of characteristics, a faceted and a free-text search, and through an Application Programming Interface. Synthesis. Harmonizing definitions of concepts, as proposed by TOP, forms the basis for better integration of data across heterogeneous data sets and terminologies, thereby increasing the potential for data reuse. It also allows enhanced scientific synthesis. TOP therefore has the potential to improve research and communication not only within the field of ecology, but also in related fields with interest in plant functioning and distribution.

Device for the standard measurement of shoot flammability in the field

Abstract: Fire ecology has been hindered by the lack of comparable, affordable protocols to quantify the flammability of whole plants over large numbers of species. We describe a low-tech device that can be carried to the field and that allows highly standardized measurement of the flammability of whole individuals or portions up to 70 cm long. We illustrate its potential with results for 34 species belonging to different growth forms from central Argentina. The device consists of an 85 × 60 cm half-cut metallic barrel placed horizontally and mounted on a removable metallic structure. It contains three parallel burners, a grill with an attached gauging thermometer and a blowtorch. Burners and blowtorch are connected to a propane–butane gas cylinder. Plant samples are placed on the grill and preheated with the burners for 2 min at 150°C. They are then ignited for 10 s with the blowtorch while the burners are kept on. Four parameters are measured for each sample: maximum temperature reached, burning time, burnt length and burnt biomass percentage. These parameters are used to construct a compound index of flammability for each sample that ranges between 0 (no flammability) and around 3 (maximum flammability). We obtained a wide range of values for flammability and all its components. Most of this variability was accounted for by differences between growth forms and species, rather than by differences at the level of replicates. This suggests that the device and protocol are sensitive enough to detect flammability differences among plants with different functional traits, and at the same time robust enough to produce consistent results among samples with similar traits. A major advantage is that plant architecture is kept almost intact, providing a flammability measure much closer to that of whole individuals in the field than those obtained by other standard protocols in use. The device and protocol presented here should facilitate the acquisition of comparable flammability data over large numbers of species from different floras and ecosystems, potentially contributing to several fields of research, such as functional ecology, evolutionary ecology and vegetation-atmosphere modelling.

Post-burning regeneration of the Chaco seasonally dry forest: germination response of dominant species to experimental heat shock.

Abstract: Plant species of the Chaco seasonally dry forest of central Argentina have presumably been under a low evolutionary pressure to develop specialized fire-response traits, such as heat-stimulated germination. Nevertheless, other historical factors such as seasonal drought and/or endozoochorus dispersal could have led some species to develop heat-tolerant seeds. Therefore, heat-tolerant germination should be more common than heat-stimulated or heat-sensitive germination. To test this, we exposed seeds of 26 dominant species from the Chaco region to a broad range of experimental heat treatments and incubated them for 30 days at 25 °C and 12 h photoperiod. We then scored the percent germination and classified them as heat-stimulated, heat-tolerant or heat-sensitive based on their germination following heat treatments relative to control. Seventeen species showed heat-tolerant germination, including all native graminoids. Seven species showed heat-stimulated germination, under the less-intense heat treatments. Only two species showed heat-sensitive germination. Endozoochory had no influence on germination responses. We suggest that, unlike Mediterranean-climate ecosystems, fire was not a major evolutionary force in the development of Chaco forests, and our results provide greater understanding of the potential response of Chaco plant communities in the face of increasingly frequent fires.

New handbook for standardised measurement of plant functional traits worldwide

Abstract: Plant functional traits are the features (morphological, physiological, phenological) that represent ecological strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels and influence ecosystem properties. Variation in plant functional traits, and trait syndromes, has proven useful for tackling many important ecological questions at a range of scales, giving rise to a demand for standardised ways to measure ecologically meaningful plant traits. This line of research has been among the most fruitful avenues for understanding ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. It also has the potential both to build a predictive set of local, regional and global relationships between plants and environment and to quantify a wide range of natural and human-driven processes, including changes in biodiversity, the impacts of species invasions, alterations in biogeochemical processes and vegetation–atmosphere interactions. The importance of these topics dictates the urgent need for more and better data, and increases the value of standardised protocols for quantifying trait variation of different species, in particular for traits with power to predict plant- and ecosystem-level processes, and for traits that can be measured relatively easily. Updated and expanded from the widely used previous version, this handbook retains the focus on clearly presented, widely applicable, step-by-step recipes, with a minimum of text on theory, and not only includes updated methods for the traits previously covered, but also introduces many new protocols for further traits. This new handbook has a better balance between whole-plant traits, leaf traits, root and stem traits and regenerative traits, and puts particular emphasis on traits important for predicting species’ effects on key ecosystem properties. We hope this new handbook becomes a standard companion in local and global efforts to learn about the responses and impacts of different plant species with respect to environmental changes in the present, past and future.

The global spectrum of plant form and function

Abstract: The authors found that the key elements of plant form and function, analysed at global scale, are largely concentrated into a two-dimensional plane indexed by the size of whole plants and organs on the one hand, and the construction costs for photosynthetic leaf area, on the other.

TRY plant trait database : Enhanced coverage and open access

Abstract: Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.

Plant functional traits and the multidimensional nature of species coexistence

Abstract: Understanding the processes maintaining species diversity is a central problem in ecology, with implications for the conservation and management of ecosystems. Although biologists often assume that trait differences between competitors promote diversity, empirical evidence connecting functional traits to the niche differences that stabilize species coexistence is rare. Obtaining such evidence is critical because traits also underlie the average fitness differences driving competitive exclusion, and this complicates efforts to infer community dynamics from phenotypic patterns. We coupled field-parameterized mathematical models of competition between 102 pairs of annual plants with detailed sampling of leaf, seed, root, and whole-plant functional traits to relate phenotypic differences to stabilizing niche and average fitness differences. Single functional traits were often well correlated with average fitness differences between species, indicating that competitive dominance was associated with late phenology, deep rooting, and several other traits. In contrast, single functional traits were poorly correlated with the stabilizing niche differences that promote coexistence. Niche differences could only be described by combinations of traits, corresponding to differentiation between species in multiple ecological dimensions. In addition, several traits were associated with both fitness differences and stabilizing niche differences. These complex relationships between phenotypic differences and the dynamics of competing species argue against the simple use of single functional traits to infer community assembly processes but lay the groundwork for a theoretically justified trait-based community ecology.

A global meta-analysis of the relative extent of intraspecific trait variation in plant communities

Abstract: Recent studies have shown that accounting for intraspecific trait variation (ITV) may better address major questions in community ecology. However, a general picture of the relative extent of ITV compared to interspecific trait variation in plant communities is still missing. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of the relative extent of ITV within and among plant communities worldwide, using a data set encompassing 629 communities (plots) and 36 functional traits. Overall, ITV accounted for 25% of the total trait variation within communities and 32% of the total trait variation among communities on average. The relative extent of ITV tended to be greater for whole-plant (e.g. plant height) vs. organ-level traits and for leaf chemical (e.g. leaf N and P concentration) vs. leaf morphological (e.g. leaf area and thickness) traits. The relative amount of ITV decreased with increasing species richness and spatial extent, but did not vary with plant growth form or climate. These results highlight global patterns in the relative importance of ITV in plant communities, providing practical guidelines for when researchers should include ITV in trait-based community and ecosystem studies.