--- name: functional-ecology description: Use when targeting Functional Ecology (Funct Ecol) or deciding whether a mechanistic study linking organism function to ecology fits this venue. Encodes the journal's fit, framing, method-and-evidence bar, house style, official-submission re-check, and desk-reject heuristics. --- # Functional Ecology (functional-ecology) ## Journal positioning Functional Ecology is published by the British Ecological Society with Wiley and is the leading venue for mechanistic functional ecology — work that links the physiology, traits, life history, and performance of organisms to ecological and evolutionary processes. Its defining character is the functional mechanism: the journal asks how organisms work and how that function shapes their interactions, distributions, demography, and responses to the environment. It rewards ecophysiology, trait-based ecology, life-history and resource-allocation studies, behavioural and metabolic ecology, and physiological responses to global change — provided the work moves beyond description to explain function and connect it to ecology. It is not a venue for community-pattern or biogeographic studies lacking a functional mechanism, nor for physiology disconnected from ecological consequence. Readership spans physiological, trait-based, and evolutionary ecologists. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** tool. It does not replace the journal's current official guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the Functional Ecology BES/Wiley site. ## When to trigger - The author names Functional Ecology as the target for a mechanistic study linking organism function — physiology, traits, life history — to ecological process. - A trait-based or ecophysiology study is choosing between Functional Ecology, Journal of Ecology, and Ecology Letters. - A study has strong physiological or trait data but the author needs to confirm the link to ecological consequence is explicit enough for this venue. - The author needs Functional Ecology's mechanistic framing, data-archiving conventions, and desk-reject criteria before submission. ## Scope & topic fit - Ecophysiology: water relations, thermal physiology, gas exchange, metabolic rate, and stress responses connected to ecological performance and distribution. - Trait-based ecology: functional traits, trait trade-offs, the leaf/wood/root economics spectra, and trait-environment and trait-demography links. - Life-history and resource allocation: reproduction-survival trade-offs, senescence, growth strategies, and allocation theory tested with data. - Behavioural and metabolic ecology: energetics, foraging physiology, and the functional basis of behaviour where mechanism connects to ecological outcome. - Physiological and functional responses to global change: thermal tolerance, drought response, and plasticity that predict ecological consequences of warming or disturbance. - Plant-soil, plant-animal, and microbial functional interactions where organismal function mechanistically drives the interaction. ## Method & evidence bar - The study must identify a functional mechanism and connect it to an ecological or evolutionary consequence; trait or physiology data alone, without that link, are insufficient. - Design and replication must support causal or mechanistic inference: manipulative experiments, controlled measurements, or well-structured comparative designs. - Trait and physiological measurements must follow accepted protocols and be reported with the methodological detail needed for comparison and reproducibility. - Analyses must be appropriate and current — mixed/hierarchical models, allometric or phylogenetically informed comparative methods where relevant, effect sizes with uncertainty. - Comparative and macro-trait analyses must control for phylogenetic non-independence and intraspecific variation where these affect inference. - Data and code must be archived in an approved public repository (Dryad/Zenodo or equivalent) and be reproducible per current BES policy. ## Structure & house style - Functional Ecology publishes full-length research articles and selected shorter formats; re-check current article types, word limits, and figure allowances on the live site. - The Introduction must frame a functional/mechanistic question and hypotheses; Methods document measurement protocols and design in reproducible detail. - Results should connect functional measurements to ecological consequence; the Discussion must interpret mechanism, not only report trait values. - Figures should display functional relationships clearly — trait-performance curves, reaction norms, allometric scaling — each carrying a mechanistic inference. - Supporting Information carries protocol detail, additional analyses, and supplementary data; the main text develops the functional argument. - BES journals require a data-availability statement and increasingly a code/reproducibility statement; confirm current required elements. ## Official-submission checklist - Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked. - Search the live site for "Functional Ecology author guidelines" and follow the current BES/Wiley version. - Re-check current article types, word and figure limits, and any structured-abstract or summary requirements. - Re-check the data- and code-availability policy: approved repositories, archiving expectations, and statement format. - Re-check competing-interests, funding, animal-ethics/welfare and collection permits, and AI-use disclosure requirements; confirm preprint policy (bioRxiv/EcoEvoRxiv generally compatible). - If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win. ## Pre-submission self-check - [ ] One sentence — the functional mechanism studied and the ecological consequence it explains. - [ ] The work links organism function to ecological process explicitly, not trait/physiology description in isolation. - [ ] Design and replication support mechanistic or causal inference. - [ ] Comparative analyses account for phylogeny and intraspecific variation where these matter. - [ ] Data and code are archived in an approved repository with accessions ready. - [ ] Required animal-welfare/ethics approvals and collection permits are documented. ## Common desk-reject triggers - Trait or physiology measurements reported without a link to any ecological or evolutionary consequence. - A community-pattern, distribution, or biogeographic study lacking a functional mechanism. - A descriptive survey of trait values with no hypothesis, mechanism, or functional interpretation. - A comparative trait analysis that ignores phylogenetic non-independence where it would change the inference. - Physiology that is purely organismal/biomedical with no ecological relevance, or missing/inadequate data archiving. ## Re-routing decision - A plant population, community, or ecosystem study where pattern and process — not organismal function — are central: Journal of Ecology (`journal-of-ecology`). - A concise, conceptually driven advance that fits a strict short format: Ecology Letters (`ecology-letters`). - A broad, high-profile eco-evolutionary advance: Nature Ecology & Evolution. - A trait-environment pattern at global/biogeographic scale: Global Ecology and Biogeography (`global-ecology-and-biogeography`). ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] Functional Ecology [Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics> [Method/evidence] [Top risk] [Official items to re-check]
[Re-route suggestion] ```