The sleeping giant needs coffee: overlooked areas for the integration of plant ecophysiology and evolutionary biology

Haley A Branch 

Interpretations of evolutionary outcomes are limited without incorporation of physiological ecology; and ecophysiological interpretations would benefit from incorporating evolutionary perspectives. Although there has been a rise of studies in the last 20 years between these fields, evolutionary studies that incorporate plant physiology have largely focused on the same traits (i.e., flowering time, specific leaf area, etc.), neglecting to incorporate cellular and developmental traits. This is largely due to the high throughput demands in evolutionary studies and the lack of technological advancements in ecophysiology. However, this bias in measured traits has resulted in limiting our understanding of plant form and function evolution. On the other hand, most detailed studies on plant physiological and anatomical responses to the environment are either in applied sciences, focused on economically important plants, or examine model organisms rather than wild populations. These detailed ecophysiological studies generally do not incorporate evolutionary discourse, even though they often study adaptation. The aim of this paper is to offer a comprehensive resource, building upon previous works, for researchers to bridge the gap between ecophysiology and evolutionary ecology.