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Project Detail

Plant age as functional trait

Name: Plant age as functional trait
Researchers: Klimešová Jitka (head – principal researcher)
Provider: Ministerstvo školství, mládeže a tělovýchovy
Number: LTT20003
Realization from: 2020
Realization to: 2024
Summary: Plant age is a key trait largely affecting demography, life-history strategy and ecosystem functioning. Still, it is virtually unknown except for secondary thickening trees in seasonal climate. For other species, we use too rough categories as annuals, biennials and perennials. With the advancement of herbchronological method based on anatomy and morphology, data on plant age are becoming more available also for herbs. However, datasets on plant age for herbs are geographically restricted as the method is used only in a few laboratories. This prevents a larger use of age data in plant demography or in community ecology. Our working group consists of experts specializing in anatomical, demography and morphological methods of plant age determination. During several previous projects (e.g. database CLO-PLA) we have also accumulated data on plant age from different regions and community types. In cooperation with TRY and COMPADRE consortium we will be able to achieve four goals: (i)) Standardize techniques for age determination in herbs. (ii) In cooperation with experts associated with TRY database and COMPADRE, use existing and newly collected data on plant age for analyses focused on the role of plant age in demography, community dynamics and ecosystem functioning. (iii) Organize courses on herbchronological methods for students and researchers from different biomes using the network of TRY and COMPADRE databases (iv) Incorporate the already available and newly collected data on plant age into database TRY together with related metadata and standardized protocols for their collecting data. Make data available worldwide. The proposed project will enable increase knowledge and provide tools for specialists in functional ecology, modelling and demography

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