The emergence and promise of functional biogeography

摘要: Understanding, modeling, and predicting the impact of global change on ecosystem functioning across biogeographical gradients can benefit from enhanced capacity to represent biota as a continuous distribution traits. However, this is challenge for field biogeography historically grounded species concept. Here we focus newly emergent functional biogeography: study geographic trait diversity organizational levels. We show how bridges species-based earth science provide ideas tools help explain in multifaceted (including species, functional, phylogenetic diversities), predict services worldwide, infuse regional conservation programs with basis. Although much recent progress has been made possible because rising multiple data streams, new developments ecoinformatics, methodological advances, future directions should theoretical comprehensive framework scaling biotic interactions trophic levels its ecological implications.