Plant Functional Traits and Ecosystem Dynamics along Elevational Gradients in Mountain Ecosystems

Mountain ecosystems are characterized by steep environmental gradients over relatively short geographic distances, providing natural laboratories for understanding plant responses to environmental variation and global change. Mountain regions such as the Himalayas encompass exceptional climatic, topographic, and biological diversity, where changes in temperature, precipitation, soil conditions, atmospheric characteristics, and growing-season length across elevational gradients shape plant functional traits, ecological strategies, species distributions, community structure, and ecosystem processes. Plant functional ecology provides a mechanistic framework for linking these environmental gradients with plant performance, adaptation, species coexistence, and ecosystem functioning. Integrating functional traits with ecophysiological, genetic, phylogenetic, phytochemical, and ecosystem-level perspectives can improve understanding of the processes governing plant communities across mountain landscapes, including but not limited to the Himalayas. Such knowledge is increasingly important as climate change, land-use pressures, biological invasions, and other environmental disturbances alter vegetation dynamics, biodiversity, and ecosystem functioning across this ecologically sensitive and globally significant mountain region.

This Research Topic seeks to bring together cutting-edge research at the intersection of plant functional ecology, ecophysiology, functional diversity, community ecology, ecosystem science, and global change biology. By integrating trait-based, physiological, ecological, molecular, geospatial, and modelling approaches, we aim to advance understanding of how elevational gradients shape plant functional strategies, community assembly, and ecosystem functioning in mountain systems worldwide, with the Himalayas as a key example, promote methodological innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration, and improve our capacity to predict plant and ecosystem responses to ongoing climate and environmental change.

We welcome original research articles, reviews, and perspectives addressing topics including, but not limited to:

• Plant functional traits and trait-environment relationships along elevational gradients
• Intraspecific and interspecific trait variation, phenotypic plasticity, and local adaptation along elevational gradients
• Functional diversity, community assembly, and species coexistence across elevational gradients
• Treeline dynamics, alpine vegetation responses, and species range shifts driven by elevation and climate change
• Ecophysiological responses, resource-use strategies, and stress tolerance across elevational gradients
• Elevational patterns in productivity, carbon sequestration, and nutrient cycling
• Plant-soil and plant-microbial interactions influencing functional strategies along elevation
• Effects of climate change, land-use change, and biological invasions on functional traits and community structure along elevation
• Genetic, phylogenetic, and phytochemical variation and their ecological significance for plant adaptation and resilience

Article types and fees

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

• Brief Research Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... 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
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Elevational Gradients, Plant Functional Traits, Functional Diversity, Ecosystem Functioning, Trait–environment Relationships, Plant adaptation, Climate Change, Himalayan Ecosystems

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.