FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY

功能生态学发表高影响力的论文，使从有机体到生态系统规模的生态模式和过程的机械理解成为可能。由于这一挑战的多面性，论文可以基于广泛的方法。因此，当研究的目标是了解生态系统和更大规模的生态现象时，手稿可能会从生理学、遗传学、生活史和有机体研究的行为角度，到群落和生物地球化学研究的角度有所不同。我们相信我们期刊的多样性是一种优势，而不是劣势，我们对我们发表的各种数据、研究方法和研究类型持开放的态度。某些关键领域将继续得到强调:将基因组学与生态学结合起来的研究，研究生理学的关键方面(例如，压力)如何影响动物和植物的生态，反之亦然，以及进化如何形成功能和生态特性之间的相互作用。生态学越来越认识到，生物体的特征和活动对于理解群落动态和生态系统过程至关重要，特别是在应对地球环境发生的快速全球变化时，而功能生态学的目标就是发表这样的综合性论文。

Functional Ecology publishes high-impact papers that enable a mechanistic understanding of ecological pattern and process from the organismic to the ecosystem scale. Because of the multifaceted nature of this challenge, papers can be based on a wide range of approaches. Thus, manuscripts may vary from physiological, genetics, life-history, and behavioural perspectives for organismal studies to community and biogeochemical studies when the goal is to understand ecosystem and larger scale ecological phenomena. We believe that the diverse nature of our journal is a strength, not a weakness, and we are open-minded about the variety of data, research approaches and types of studies that we publish. Certain key areas will continue to be emphasized: studies that integrate genomics with ecology, studies that examine how key aspects of physiology (e.g., stress) impact the ecology of animals and plants, or vice versa, and how evolution shapes interactions among function and ecological traits. Ecology has increasingly moved towards the realization that organismal traits and activities are vital for understanding community dynamics and ecosystem processes, particularly in response to the rapid global changes occurring in earth’s environment, and Functional Ecology aims to publish such integrative papers.