SPECIAL FEATURE THE TREE OF LIFE IN ECOSYSTEMS Functional distinctiveness of major plant lineages

William K. Cornwell, Mark Westoby, Daniel S. Falster, Richard G. FitzJohn, Brian C. O’Meara, Matthew W. Pennell, Daniel J. McGlinn, Jonathan M. Eastman, Angela T. Moles, Peter B. Reich, David C. Tank, Ian J. Wright, Lonnie Aarssen, Jeremy M. Beaulieu, Robert M. Kooyman, Michelle R. Leishman, Eliot T. Miller, € Ulo Niinemets, Jacek Oleksyn, Alejandro Ordonez, Dana L. Royer, Stephen A. Smith, Peter F. Stevens, Laura Warman, Peter Wilf and Amy E. Zanne* Department of Ecological Sciences, Systems Ecology, VU University, de Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia; Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia; Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z4, Canada; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA; Department of Biological Sciences and Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844, USA; Department of Biology and the Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA; Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA; Department of Biology, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada; National Institute for Mathematical & Biological Synthesis, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA; National Herbarium of New South Wales, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Mrs. Macquaries Rd., Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia; Department of Biology, University of Missouri – St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63121, USA; Department of Plant Physiology, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, 51014 Tartu, Estonia; Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Dendrology, 62-035 Kornik, Poland; Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research, Madison, WI 53706, USA; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA; Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, USDA Forest Service, Hilo, HI 96720, USA; Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA; Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA; and Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO 63121, USA