The untapped potential of categorical traits in seaweed functional diversity research

Abstract

In this issue, Fong et al. show how the use of categorical traits can greatly accelerate progress in seaweed trait-based ecology. They add an important dimension to a suite of approaches that have developed since the 1980s, show how categorical traits may allow researchers to integrate distinct aspects of trait variation more readily, and hint that seaweeds may naturally fall into distinct groups in a gap-filled trait space.