suggests that the time is ripe to get back to species
characterized by their traits located in a heterogeneous
environment. This is especially true for two reasons. First,
remote sensing, geographical information technology and
the accumulation of worldwide data sets are providing
community ecologists with the tools to reinvent the field.
Second, the threat of global warming demands the ability
to predict the effects of a changing environment on the
biosphere. Approaches that ignore the environment or
focus on a few species at a time cannot address this
question. The functional trait-focused approach, with its
emphasis on environmental gradients, traits across many