Crop functional traits in managed environments

Current ecological theory suggests that the variation of plant functional traits in a cropping system may strongly predict agroecosystem functioning. My MSc thesis and subsequent collaborative publication documented variations of leaf functional traits in biodiverse coffee agroforestry systems, which link to variations in plant yield estimates. These variations occurred across farm management regimes and climato-edaphic conditions, demonstrating the importance of considering trait variability when making management decisions. Part of my doctoral thesis builds upon these findings to establish a link between leaf functional trait variation and pathogen severity, and to determine how foliar disease shapes intraspecific trait variation in agroecosystems.