Functional diversity—the range and distribution of traits within biological communities—shapes how ecosystems respond to environmental change and regulate carbon, nutrient, and energy flows. This session explores the ecological and evolutionary processes that drive changes in functional diversity, and how these changes in turn affect biogeochemical dynamics across terrestrial and aquatic systems.
We invite contributions that examine functional diversity in motion: from shifts in community composition and trait distributions to adaptation via evolutionary change. We particularly welcome studies that link trait dynamics to biogeochemical consequences, whether through experiments, observational time series, comparative biogeography, or trait-based and eco-evolutionary models. Contributions may address open questions such as: How do ecological and evolutionary processes interact to drive functional change? Can trait distributions predict ecosystem responses to perturbations? How transferable are eco-evolutionary insights across biomes and scales?
By bringing together work across soils, vegetation, freshwater, and marine systems, this session aims to foster a cross-system perspective on the dynamic links between diversity, adaptation, and biogeochemical function.