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Plant functional traits are the features (morphological, physiological, phenological) that represent ecological strategies and determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels and influence ecosystem properties. Variation in plant functional traits, and trait syndromes, has proven useful for tackling many important ecological questions at a range of scales, giving rise to a demand for standardised ways to measure ecologically meaningful plant traits. This line of research has been among the most fruitful avenues for understanding ecological and evolutionary patterns and processes. It also has the potential both to build a predictive set of local, regional and global relationships between plants and environment and to quantify a wide range of natural and human-driven processes, including changes in biodiversity, the impacts of species invasions, alterations in biogeochemical processes and vegetation–atmosphere interactions. The importance of these topics dictates the urgent need for more and better data, and increases the value of standardised protocols for quantifying trait variation of different species, in particular for traits with power to predict plant- and ecosystem-level processes, and for traits that can be measured relatively easily. Updated and expanded from the widely used previous version, this handbook retains the focus on clearly presented, widely applicable, step-by-step recipes, with a minimum of text on theory, and not only includes updated methods for the traits previously covered, but also introduces many new protocols for further traits. This new handbook has a better balance between whole-plant traits, leaf traits, root and stem traits and regenerative traits, and puts particular emphasis on traits important for predicting species' effects on key ecosystem properties. We hope this new handbook becomes a standard companion in local and global efforts to learn about the responses and impacts of different plant species with respect to environmental changes in the present, past and future.

The genus Ruscus (Asparagaceae) consists of evergreen, woody monocot shrubs with modified photosynthetic stems (phylloclades) that occur in dry, shaded woodland areas of the Mediterranean Basin and southern Europe. The combined drought and shade tolerance of Ruscus species challenges the ‘trade-off model’, which suggests that plants can be either drought or shade adapted, but not both. To clarify the potential mechanisms that enable Ruscus species to survive in shaded environments prone to pronounced soil drought, we studied form–function relations based on a detailed trait survey for Ruscus aculeatus L. and Ruscus microglossum Bertol., focusing on gas exchange, hydraulics, morphology, anatomy, and nutrient and isotope composition. We then compared these trait values with published data for other species. R. aculeatus and R. microglossum exhibited numerous traits conferring drought and shade tolerance via reduced demand for resources in general and an ability to survive on stored water. Specific traits include thick phylloclades with low rates of maximum photosynthetic CO2 assimilation, low stomatal conductance to water vapour (gs), low respiration rate, low light compensation point, low shoot hydraulic conductance, low cuticular conductance, and substantial water storage tissue. Ruscus carbon isotope composition values of –33 ‰ were typical of an understory plant, but given the low gs could be associated with internal CO2 recycling. Ruscus appears to be a model for extreme dual adaptation, both physiologically and morphologically, enabling its occupation of shaded sites within drought prone regions across a wide geographical range, including extremely low resource understory sites.

More than 40 000 km3 year–1 of water flows through the intricate hydraulic pathways inside leaves. This water not only sustains terrestrial productivity, but also constitutes nearly 70% of terrestrial evapotranspiration, thereby influencing both global and local climate (Chapin et al. 2002). Thus, the central role played by leaf vascular systems in terrestrial biology provides an important context for research into the function and evolution of water transport in leaves. Significant progress has been made recently towards understanding the linkages between anatomy and water transport efficiency in leaves, and these discoveries provide a novel perspective to view the evolution of land plants.

PROtocols, METHods, Explanations and Updated Standards Wiki (PrometheusWiki, http://www.publish.csiro.au/prometheuswiki/) is a new open access, fully searchable web resource that contains protocols and methods for plant physiology, ecology and environmental sciences. Contributions can be uploaded by anyone in the community, with attributed authorship, and are open for wiki-style comment. This resource allows the gathering in one place of methods, links to published methods and detailed protocols used by leading laboratories around the world, with annotation. As a web resource, PrometheusWiki is continually evolving and updatable, easily and rapidly searchable and highly accessible. It will also enhance communication, allowing multimedia description of protocols and techniques, with spreadsheet tools, slide shows and video files easily integrated into the text. This resource is anticipated to lead to strong benefits in standardising methods, improving access to training for students and professionals, promoting collaborations and expanding the cutting edge of research.