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The main aim of the meta-phenomics approach is to construct dose-response curves for the environmental responses of plants. We do so for over 100 anatomical, morphological, chemical, physiological as well as growth and reproduction-related traits, generalised for a wide range of herbaceous and woody plant species. More specifically we ask: |
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1. How do plants respond to 12 of the most important a-biotic environmental factors? That is: - What is the form of the dose-response curve? (linear, saturating, optimum) - What is the strength of the response? (characterised by a Plasticity Index) - How consistent is the response across experiments? (characterised by a Consistency Index) - How reliable is the derived dose-response curve in its present form? That is, are new data expected to change the dose-response curve? (characterised by a Reliability Index) - Which are the plant traits that are a hallmark for the effect of a given environmental variable? - Which are the traits that discriminate in the most consistent manner between the effects of environmental A and B? |
| 2. Are there systematic differences among groups of species in their dose-response curves (either among functional groups of species or between families)? |
| 3. What are the interactions between various environmental factors in their effect on the various plant traits? |
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To answer these questions we are building a database, which currently consists of almost 2000 published controlled experiments on environmental responses of >1700 plant species. We hope that this approach: - Will provide a comprehensive and integrated picture of plant plasticity. - Will guide future experiments and used quantitatively as a benchmark. - Will be used as a benchmark in modeling, and/or used to simulate the effects of for example global change. |