Ecology, Evolution, and Plant Functional traits |
My interest and expertise are in the intersection of ecology and evolution. Specifically, in the ecology of plants, the contemporary evolution of quantitative traits and ecosystem processes.
Humans are dramatically changing ecosystems both directly (e.g. replacing the natural vegetation completely) and indirectly altering the dynamics of natural selection (e.g. by introducing new herbivores). Organisms must rapidly adapt and evolve to these different selection pressures if they are to cope, persist, and survive. My research goal is to determine the magnitude and speed of these processes of contemporary evolution, as well as the relevance of these changes in the dynamics of the ecosystems. This can give us a better understanding of nature's contributions to people, how evolutionary pressures set by humans affect our ecosystems, and how biodiversity can help us to mitigate the detrimental effects of human activities. Leaf functional traits mediate plant responses to environmental conditions and, in turn, influence plant effects on ecosystem properties. I am interested in intra-specific patterns of variation and covariation, how these can be shaped by evolution and how they can affect ecosystem processes. |
The Study System
Plants, as the main primary producers in terrestrial ecosystems, are the main (biotic) driver of ecosystem processes such as primary productivity, CO2 fixation, gas exchange rates, N (and other nutrients) cycling, and water dynamics.
Livestock herbivory provides amazing opportunities to study changes in vegetation and the evolution of plant populations. The heterogeneity of the grazing/browsing in an area due to several landscape features, as well as the history of herbivory, are closely related to the human history at each location. This produces a landscape of patches with different evolutionary histories suited to study contemporary evolution as well as its effect on ecosystem processes.
I have studied the effect of livestock herbivory on leaf functional traits both in woody species and in long-lived perennial grasses of the Chaco dry forest (Gorné & Díaz 2022).
Now, I am starting a new project aimed to assess the contribution of contemporary evolution of plants, due to grazing, in the primary productivity of mountain grasslands of Córdoba, Argentina.
Livestock herbivory provides amazing opportunities to study changes in vegetation and the evolution of plant populations. The heterogeneity of the grazing/browsing in an area due to several landscape features, as well as the history of herbivory, are closely related to the human history at each location. This produces a landscape of patches with different evolutionary histories suited to study contemporary evolution as well as its effect on ecosystem processes.
I have studied the effect of livestock herbivory on leaf functional traits both in woody species and in long-lived perennial grasses of the Chaco dry forest (Gorné & Díaz 2022).
Now, I am starting a new project aimed to assess the contribution of contemporary evolution of plants, due to grazing, in the primary productivity of mountain grasslands of Córdoba, Argentina.
Systematic Reviews
Wild populations must continuously respond to environmental changes, or they risk extinction. Those responses can be measured as phenotypic rates of change, which can allow us to predict contemporary adaptive responses, some of which are evolutionary. About two decades ago, a database of phenotypic rates of change in wild populations was compiled (Hendry & Kinnison 1999). Since then, researchers have used (and expanded) this database to examine phenotypic responses to specific types of human disturbance. This database was originally focused on animals. I have conducted a systematic review and built an equivalent database focused on plant populations (Gorné & Díaz 2017). Based on this database I performed a meta-analysis (Gorné & Díaz 2019) aiming to understand the environmental and biological features of the systems driving and modulating the phenotypic change and the evolutionary processes. Currently, I am combining both databases (the original, animal-based database with my own) in order to release a new and expanded version of the database PROCEED. Based on this database I am analyzing and collaborating to understand how different properties of the species (like the genome size or the generation time) can affect the rates of change in these populations facing environmental changes.
"Functional traits" were initially thought of as predictors (proxies) of organismal performance (Calow 1987, Functional Ecology 1: 57-61). Over the last four decades, developments in plant community and ecosystem ecology have forced the concept of traits beyond these original boundaries, and trait-based approaches are now used in studies ranging from the level of organisms to that of ecosystems. As one of the consequences, implications of species-level traits use to be assumed at the intraspecific level. This assumption is not trivial, and the relationship between traits and components of fitness is relevant from the evolutionary point of view. Currently, I am conducting a systematic review aiming to assess to what extent and under what conditions the so-called leaf functional traits are affecting the individual performance (i.e. "functional traits" in the original meaning of the concept).
"Functional traits" were initially thought of as predictors (proxies) of organismal performance (Calow 1987, Functional Ecology 1: 57-61). Over the last four decades, developments in plant community and ecosystem ecology have forced the concept of traits beyond these original boundaries, and trait-based approaches are now used in studies ranging from the level of organisms to that of ecosystems. As one of the consequences, implications of species-level traits use to be assumed at the intraspecific level. This assumption is not trivial, and the relationship between traits and components of fitness is relevant from the evolutionary point of view. Currently, I am conducting a systematic review aiming to assess to what extent and under what conditions the so-called leaf functional traits are affecting the individual performance (i.e. "functional traits" in the original meaning of the concept).
Chronobiology |
I made a short trip through the study of phospholipids' metabolism, its regulation, and their related circadian rhythms. I have left this field, but some cool contributions resulted from this stage (see the publications).
|
Comming soon |
Plant Breeding Programs on traditionally used native plants
Plant somatic mutations and Adaptive Evolution |