• List of contributors; Preface; Part I: 1. What are functional types and how should we seek them? H. Gitay and I. R. Noble; 2. Plant and ecosystem functional types H. H. Shugart; Part II: 3. Plant functional types: towards a definition by environmental constraints F. I. Woodward and C. K. Kelly; 4. Can we use plant functional types to describe and predict responses to environmental change? R. J. Hobbs; 5. Functional types in non-equilibrium ecosystems B. H. Walker; 6. Categorizing plant species into functional types M. Westoby and M. Leishman; 7. Functional types: testing the concept in Northern England J. P. Grime, J. G. Hodgson, R. Hunt, K. Thopson, G. A. F. Hendry, B. D. Campbell, A. Jalili, S. H. Hillier, S. Diaz and M. J. W. Burke; Part III: 8. Plant functional types and ecosystem change in arctic tundras G. R. Shaver, A. E. Giblin, K. J. Nadelhoffer and E. B. Rastetter; 9. Functional types for predicting changes in biodiversity: a case study in Cape Fynbos W. J. Bond; 10. Defining functional types for models of desertification J. F. Reynolds, R. A. Virginia and W. H. Schlesinger; 11. Plant functional types in temperate semi-arid regions O. E. Sala, W. K. Lauenroth and R. A. Golluscio; 12. Interactions between demographic and ecosystem processes in a semi-arid and an arid grassland: a challenge for plant functional types W. K. Lauenroth, D. P. Coffin, I. C. Burke and R. A. Virginia; 13. Plant functional types in African savannas and grasslands R. J. Scholes, G. Pickett, W. N. Ellery and A. C. Blackmore; Part IV: 14. Using plant functional types in a global vegetation model W. Cramer; 15. The use of plant functional type classifications to model the global land cover and simulate the interactions between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere R. Leemans; Part V: 16. Examining the consequences of classifying species into functional types: a simulation model analysis T. M. Smith; 17. Ecosystem function of biodiversity: the basis of the viewpoint H. A. Mooney; 18. Defining plant functional types: the end view F. I. Woodward, T. M. Smith and H. H. Shugart; Index.

"...an excellent introduction to the concept and use of PFT's and a valuable overview of the state of plant ecology in the 1990's." David A. Wedin, Ecoscience