生态系统性状对宏生态研究的启示与挑战

功能性状在器官-物种-种群-群落-生态系统水平都具有其特定的适应或功能优化的意义,但目前对功能性状的测定和研究大都局限于器官或物种水平。然而,当前高速发展的宏生态新研究技术和方法(如遥感观测、通量观测、模型模拟)的研究对象都是在生态系统或区域尺度上,如何将传统功能性状与其相连结并服务于生态环境问题和全球变化问题是科学界的一大难题。为了解决传统性状与宏生态研究"尺度不统一"和"量纲不统一"的难题,研究人员最新发展了"生态系统性状(Ecosystem traits, ESTs)"概念体系,并从"理念-数据源-推导方法-应用"等多角度为后续研究提供了可借鉴案例。生态系统性状将传统性状研究从器官水平拓展到了群落和生态系统水平,以单位土地面积为基础构建了传统性状与宏生态研究(或地学研究)的桥梁,开启了性状研究从"器官到群落"、从"经典理论验证到宏观应用"的美好愿景,为多学科交叉提供了新思路。然而,它在方法学和数据源等方面还存在诸多问题与挑战;在此,我们呼吁相关专家从研究方法、概念体系和应用实践上赋予"生态系统性状"更强大的生命力,尤其从动物群落性状和微生物群落性状等角度。本文在深入解读先前生态性状概念体系、理论意义和潜在挑战的基础上,结合最新进展进行了补充,希望通过广泛讨论,完善生态系统性状概念体系,逐步形成"以性状为基础的生态系统生态学"新研究框架,切实推动宏生态研究和区域生态环境问题的解决。

Ecosystem traits open new insights into macroecology: opportunity and challenge

Most measurements or studies on the traits of plants and animals in nature have been limited to the levels of organ or species, although many studies have demonstrated that functional trait of plants and animals played important roles in adjusting external environments and optimizing productivity among the organ, to the species, community, and ecosystem levels. More importantly, climate change, land-use change, and atmospheric nitrogen and acid deposition have strong ecological and environmental effects at the widest range of scales, from the region to the globe. Thus, integration of the study of traditional functional traits with new technologies of macro-ecological research, such as ecological modeling, eddy-flux observation, and remote sensing is urgently required. To resolve the gaps between the study of traditional traits and macro-ecological research, mainly unit and scale mismatch, scientists recently proposed a framework for quantifying "ecosystem traits" (ESTs) and the means to address the challenges of broadening the applicability of functional traits to macro-ecology. Ecosystem traits here are defined as traits or quantitative characteristics of organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) at the community level expressed as the intensity (or density) normalized per unit land area. Furthermore, a series of examples of ecosystem traits from primary data, scale-up methods, and trait-functioning relationship are provided in a novel functional trait database in China (China_Traits). In a specific ecosystem, ecosystem traits comprise the plant community trait, animal community trait, microbial community trait, soil, and environmental parameters. It is undeniable that there are still problems or challenges with the new concept frame and related methods, as in any new field in science. Importantly, this new concept or idea of ecosystem traits helps scale-up the traditional trait from the organ to the community level, which can help better exploration of the variation and underlying mechanisms of traits at various scales from organ, to species, community, and ecosystems. Additionally, ecosystem traits can inter-relate and integrate data from field trait surveys, eddy-flux observation, remote sensing, and ecological models, and thereby provide new resolution of the responses and feedback at the regional to global scale. However, as a newly emerging approach, it is undeniable that a series of problems and challenges need to be resolved. We therefore call for further research efforts, especially from the perspective of animal and microbial community traits, to expand the robustness of this concept. In this study, we explain and develop the primary concept of ecosystem traits, and assess its theoretical significance and potential challenges, which may help improve it and promote the application of this new framework of trait-based ecosystem ecology at home and abroad.