Allocating C-S-R plant functional types: a soft approach to a hard problem

A long-term research programme, conducted mainly in northern England, has involved field surveys (1965-77), laboratory screening (1974-96), monitoring of permanent plots (1958 to date) and manipulative experiments (1987 to date). The so-called C-S-R classification of plant functional types developed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oikos 1999-05, Vol.85 (2), p.282-294
Main Authors: Hodgson, J.G, Wilson, P.J, Hunt, R. (Sheffield Univ. (United Kingdom)), Grime, J.P, Thompson, K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ANALISIS DE DATOS
ANALYSE DE DONNEES
ANGLETERRE
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Coordinate systems
DATA ANALYSIS
Datasets
Decimals
ECOSISTEMA
ECOSYSTEME
ECOSYSTEMS
ENGLAND
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Gold standard
Habitats
HABITOS DE CRECIMIENTO
IMPACT SUR L'ENVIRONNEMENT
IMPACTO AMBIENTAL
INGLATERRA
Leaves
PLANT HABIT
Plants
PORT DE LA PLANTE
Species
Spreadsheets
Synecology
VEGETACION
VEGETATION
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Description
Summary:A long-term research programme, conducted mainly in northern England, has involved field surveys (1965-77), laboratory screening (1974-96), monitoring of permanent plots (1958 to date) and manipulative experiments (1987 to date). The so-called C-S-R classification of plant functional types developed from all this activity. Patterns of covariation among the traits used in the classification have recently been validated in this journal. The C-S-R classification appears to be applicable to vegetation in general. It thus has considerable potential for interpreting and predicting vegetation and ecosystem properties on a world-wide scale. However, to realize this potential we need to develop simplified procedures to extrapolate the C-S-R system to the many species which have not been the subject of previous ecological investigation. Here we describe a rapid method for attribution of C-S-R type and we test its accuracy in Britain by comparing it with an independent classification based upon more laborious procedures. The new method allocates a functional type to an unknown herbaceous subject using few, simple predictor variables. We have developed spreadsheets to perform all of the necessary calculations. These may be downloaded from the UCPE website at http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/N-Q/nuocpe, or obtained by direct application to the E-mail address ucpe@sheffield.ac.uk
ISSN:0030-1299
1600-0706
DOI:10.2307/3546494