Beyond Functional Traits: New Analytical Tools Helping Ecophysiology

Recently, science has experimented with a new paradigm in managing information; this is the basis for technologies and tools that are more precise and less invasive. A result of this is a more eco-friendly proposal for agriculture based on ecophysiology - these new technologies help recognize how plants report to the environment, considering not only other plants but also microbes and non-living systems. This analytical improvement allows us to explore phenomena previously not clarified, in addition to using several new analytical tools to propose new boundaries for society, improve old tools and explore possibilities for the future of plant sciences.

This Topic aims to enhance opportunities and inclusivity in the field of plant science. Our diverse group consists of individuals with varying expertise, from different regions, cultures, and genders. We are working to move away from the exclusionary divide between the Global North and South, and instead focus on adopting new analytical tools for plant ecophysiology, making high-throughput technologies more accessible. This approach can contribute to global advancements in ecophysiology research, facilitating collaborative strategies without being limited by geography, especially in addressing issues such as global change.

Potential key subtopics concerning plant ecophysiology include, but are not limited to:

* Agroecosystem indicators
* Biochar
* Biogeography, spatiotemporal patterns and geostatistical tools
* Biological and theoretical modelling systems
* Biosensors
* Data Engineering
* Data Science
* Electrochemical sensing
* Electronic, sensors and robotic prototypes
* Environmental, Social, and Governance tools
* Epigenetics
* Functional diversity
* Global and climate changes
* Image analysis and processing for diagnosis
* Microbiome and holobiome (e.g., endophytes and mesophytes in plant establishment)
* Modelling, metrics and measurements
* Morphospace and/or phylogeny
* Nanoscience technologies and environmental recovery
* OMICs (e.g., genomics, transcriptomes, metabolomes and proteomics) approaches
* Chemical ecology (e.g., Volatile Organic Compounds - VOCs)
* Machine and deep learning techniques
* Plant electrophysiology
* Photobiology and thermal biology in plant development and establishment
* Plant cognition
* Plant interactions
* Plant communications
* Plant memories
* Seed-seedling transition
* Variation and variability from inter and intraspecific differences

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: allelopathy, plant modeling, global change, plant interactions, artificial intelligence, interactive database, image analysis, agroecosystems, microbiome, biological and theoretical modeling systems, instrumentation, plant conservation and climate change

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.