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Geographical Changes in Vegetation and Plant Functional Types pp 59–71Cite as

Plant Eco-Morphological Traits as Adaptations to Environmental Conditions: Some Comparisons Between Different Biomes Across the World

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Part of the book series: Geobotany Studies ((GEOBOT))

Abstract

Vegetation has been studied by means of eco-morphological trait syndromes of dominant plants (physiognomy) since the beginning of vegetation science. Different approaches have tried to match eco-morphological traits with environmental conditions in the basic belief that physiognomically similar vegetation types occur in different geographical areas where similar environmental conditions occur, in a physiognomic convergence phenomenon. This has been considered a fundamental phenomenon in plant geography and a validation for this approach. Comparison of physiognomic types from the Southern Hemisphere vegetation with those from the Northern Hemisphere reveals that this statement is of limited value. Winter deciduousness is a common feature in woody vegetation in the temperate biomes of the Northern Hemisphere, but it is rare in the Southern Hemisphere. Sclerophylly is a unifying trait in all Australian vegetation regardless of the different climatic areas in which they live. This can be related to the common origin of its flora. Traits may have developed as an adaptation to environmental conditions but show no particular adaptive advantages under current conditions, giving rise to the phenomenon of exaptation. The fact that ecological and phenotypical similarity of related taxa is greater than one would expect on a random basis, can be explained by phylogenetic niche conservatism and phylogenetic signal. A part of the observed traits are inherited from ancestors and not all of them conserve an adaptive functionality nowadays, in spite of having had it when they differentiated a long time ago. Phylogeny matters, also for eco-morphological trait syndromes.

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Acknowledgements

The funds of the project T299-10 financed by the Basque Government have supported this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Bilbao, Spain

    Javier Loidi

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  1. Javier Loidi
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Correspondence to Javier Loidi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Queens College, CUNY, Flushing, New York, USA

    Andrew M. Greller

  2. Graduate School in Nanobioscience, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

    Kazue Fujiwara

  3. Department of Botany and Ecology, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy

    Franco Pedrotti

Additional information

Dedication: I want to dedicate this work to my friend Elgene O. Box, comrade of many meetings and excursions over many years and in various parts of the world in that we always had a good understanding and sympathy forged through stimulating conversations and experiences together.

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Loidi, J. (2018). Plant Eco-Morphological Traits as Adaptations to Environmental Conditions: Some Comparisons Between Different Biomes Across the World. In: Greller, A., Fujiwara, K., Pedrotti, F. (eds) Geographical Changes in Vegetation and Plant Functional Types. Geobotany Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68738-4_3

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