title: Vegetation ecology meets ecosystem science: Permanent grasslands as a functional biogeography case study.
abstract: The effect of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning has been widely acknowledged, and the importance of the functional roles of species, as well as their diversity, in the control of ecosystem processes has been emphasised recently. However, bridging biodiversity and ecosystem science to address issues at a biogeographic scale is still in its infancy. Bridging this gap is the primary goal of the emerging field of functional biogeography. While the rise of Big Data has catalysed functional biogeography studies in recent years, comprehensive evidence remains scarce. Here, we present the rationale and the first results of a country-wide initiative focused on the C3 permanent grasslands. We aimed to collate, integrate and process large databases of vegetation relevés, plant traits and environmental layers to provide a country-wide assessment of ecosystem properties and services which can be used to improve regional models of climate and land use changes. We outline the theoretical background, data availability, and ecoinformatics challenges associated with the approach and its feasibility. We provide a case study of upscaling of leaf dry matter content averaged at ecosystem level and country-wide predictions of forage digestibility. Our framework sets milestones for further hypothesis testing in functional biogeography and earth system modelling.
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; CESAB/FRB, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Avenue Louis Philibert, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France. Electronic address: cyrille.violle@cefe.cnrs.fr.
authors.forename: Cyrille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Violle
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble, France; CNRS, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble, France. Electronic address: Philippe.Choler@ujf-grenoble.fr.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Choler
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; CESAB/FRB, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Avenue Louis Philibert, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Borgy
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; CESAB/FRB, Domaine du Petit Arbois, Avenue Louis Philibert, 13545 Aix-en-Provence, France.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Garnier
authors.affiliation: Université de Lorraine, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, UMR 1137, Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy, 54500, France; Inra, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, UMR 1137, Champenoux, 54280, France.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Amiaud
authors.affiliation: Fédération des Conservatoires Botaniques Nationaux, 93511 Montreuil-sous-Bois, France.
authors.forename: Guilhem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Debarros
authors.affiliation: Normandie Univ, France; UNICAEN, UMR Ecophysiologie Végétale Agronomie et nutrition NCS, F-14032 Caen, France; INRA, UMR 950 NCS, F-14032 Caen, France.
authors.forename: Sylvain
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Diquelou
authors.affiliation: INRA, US1106 InfoSol, F-45075 Orléans, France.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gachet
authors.affiliation: Aix Marseille Université, Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie marine et continentale (IMBE), CNRS, IRD, Avignon Université, Campus St-Jérôme, Case 421, 13397 MARSEILLE Cedex 20, France.
authors.forename: Claudy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jolivet
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Hans Knoell Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kattge
authors.affiliation: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble, France; CNRS, LECA, F-38000 Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lavorel
authors.affiliation: Normandie Univ, France; UNICAEN, UMR Ecophysiologie Végétale Agronomie et nutrition NCS, F-14032 Caen, France; INRA, UMR 950 NCS, F-14032 Caen, France.
authors.forename: Servane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lemauviel-Lavenant
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175), 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; Université de Sherbrooke, 2500 blv. de l'Université, Sherbrooke 2R1 J1K, Canada.
authors.forename: Jessy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Loranger
authors.affiliation: Conservatoire Botanique National Alpin, domaine de Charance, 05000 Gap, France.
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mikolajczak
authors.affiliation: University Montpellier 2, AMAP, Bd de la Lironde, TA A-51/PS2, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; French Institute of Pondicherry, 11, St Louis Street, Pondicherry 605001, India.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Munoz
authors.affiliation: Fédération des Conservatoires Botaniques Nationaux, 93511 Montreuil-sous-Bois, France.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Olivier
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire des Sciences du climat et de l'Environnement (UMR 8212 CEA/CNRS/UVSQ), Orme des Merisiers, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Viovy
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D004463:Ecology; D065948:Grassland
keywords: C3 grasslands; Community weighed mean (CWM); Ecoinformatics; Functional diversity; Land Surface Models; Nutrient cycling; Plant databases; Plant functional trait