Lettheconceptoftraitbefunctional
CyrilleViolle,Marie-LaureNavas,DenisVile,ElenaKazakou,ClaireFortunel,Ire`neHummelandEricGarnierAbstractInitssimplestdefinition,atraitisasurrogateoforganismalperformance
Wethereforegiveanunambiguousdefinitionofplanttrait,withaparticularemphasisonfunctionaltrait
Ahierarchicalperspectiveisproposed,extendingthe‘‘performanceparadigm’’toplantecology
‘‘Functionaltraits’’aredefinedasmorpho-physiop-henologicaltraitswhichimpactfitnessindirectlyviatheireffectsongrowth,reproductionandsurvival,thethreecomponentsofindividualperformance
Wefinallypresentanintegrativeframeworkexplaininghowchangesintraitvaluesduetoenvironmentalvariationsaretranslatedintoorganismalperformance,andhowthesechangesmayinfluenceprocessesathigherorganizationallevels
IntroductionFollowingDarwin’s(185