Summary 1.Competitor, stress-tolerator, ruderal (CSR) theory is a prominent plant functional strategy scheme previously applied to local floras. Globally, the wide geographic and phylogenetic coverage of available values of leaf area (LA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC) and specific leaf area (SLA) (representing, respectively, interspecific variation in plant size and conservative vs. acquisitive resource economics) promises the general application of CSR strategies across biomes, including the tropical forests hosting a large proportion of Earth's diversity. 2. We used trait variation for 3068 tracheophytes (representing 198 families, six continents and 14 biomes) to create a globally calibrated CSR strategy calculator tool and investigate strategy-environment relationships across biomes world-wide. 3. Due to disparity in trait availability globally, co-inertia analysis was used to check correspondence between a 'wide geographic coverage, few traits' data set and a 'restricted coverage, many traits' subset of 371 species for which 14 whole-plant, flowering, seed and leaf traits (including leaf nitrogen content) were available. CSR strategy/environment relationships within biomes were investigated using fourth-corner and RLQ analyses to determine strategy/climate specializations. 4. Strong, significant concordance (RV = 0Á597; P < 0Á0001) was evident between the 14 trait multivariate space and when only LA, LDMC and SLA were used. 5. Biomes such as tropical moist broadleaf forests exhibited strategy convergence (i.e. clustered around a CS/CSR median; C:S:R = 43:42:15%), with CS-selection associated with warm, stable situations (lesser temperature seasonality), with greater annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration. Other biomes were characterized by strategy divergence: for example, deserts varied between xeromorphic perennials such as Larrea divaricata, classified as S-selected (C:S:R = 1:99:0%) and broadly R-selected annual herbs (e.g. Claytonia perfoliata; R/CR-selected; C:S:R = 21:0:79%). Strategy convergence was evident for several growth habits (e.g. trees) but not others (forbs). 6. The CSR strategies of vascular plants can now be compared quantitatively within and between biomes at the global scale. Through known linkages between underlying leaf traits and growth rates, herbivory and decomposition rates, this method and the strategy-environment relationships it elucidates will help to predict which kinds of species may assemble in response to changes in biogeochemical cycles, climate and land use.

Summary1. Three main directions of adaptive specialization are evident in the world flora, reflecting fundamental trade-offs between economics (conservative vs. acquisitive investment of resources) and size. The current method of ordinating plants according to these trade-offs, CSR classification, cannot be applied to the woody species that dominate many terrestrial ecosystems. 2. We aimed to produce a novel CSR classification method applicable to vascular plants in general.3. Principal components analysis (PCA) of variation in a range of plant traits for 678 angiosperm, gymnosperm and pteridophyte species was used to determine the limits to multivariate space occupied by functionally diverse species. From this calibration, correlations between PCA axes and values of leaf dry matter content (LDMC; as an index of conservatism in life history), specific leaf area (SLA; indicative of acquisitive economics) and leaf area (LA; photosynthetic organ size) were used to produce predictor regressions from which target species could be compared against the multivariate space. A spreadsheet was developed that returned ternary coordinates and tertiary CSR strategies for target subjects based on LA, LDMC and SLA values. 4. The method allowed classification of target species within a triangular space corresponding to Grime's theoretical CSR triangle and was sufficiently precise to distinguish strategies between species within genera and within populations of species. It was also largely in agreement with previous methods of CSR classification for herbaceous species. 5. Rapid CSR classification of woody and herbaceous vascular plants is now possible, potentially allowing primary plant functional types and ecosystem processes to be investigated over landscape scales.

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The general applicability of CSR classification (a methodology for applying CSR theory) has not been tested outside Britain. We hypothesised that principal axes of trait variation for plant species native to southern European continental, sub-alpine and alpine bioclimatic zones correlate with CSR classification scores. Functional traits were quantified in situ for 506 species of 57 families. Multivariate analysis revealed three main modes in which plants invested biomass: (1) architectural extension of individual ramets (tall canopies, large leaves), (2) durable tissues (high leaf dry matter contents and carbon contents, low specific leaf areas) or (3) regenerative development (early, extensive flowering with delicate, nitrogen-rich leaves). These were highly significantly correlated with the extent of competitive ability (C), stress-tolerance (S) and ruderalism (R), respectively, determined by CSR classification. Despite being calibrated using only 43 British species, CSR classification is consistent with trait variation in a phylogenetically broader sample of species native to a wider range of bioclimatic zones

We have performed H and K S band observations of the planetary system around HR 8799 using the new AO system at the Large Binocular Telescope and the PISCES Camera. The excellent instrument performance (Strehl ratios up to 80% in H band) enabled the detection of the innermost planet, HR 8799e, at H band for the first time. The H and K S magnitudes of HR 8799e are similar to those of planets c and d, with planet e being slightly brighter. Therefore, HR 8799e is likely slightly more massive than c and d. We also explored possible orbital configurations and their orbital stability. We confirm that the orbits of planets b, c and e are consistent with being circular and coplanar; planet d should have either an orbital eccentricity of about 0.1 or be non-coplanar with respect to b and c. Planet e can not be in circular and coplanar orbit in a 4:2:1 mean motion resonances with c and d, while coplanar and circular orbits are allowed for a 5:2 resonance. The analysis of dynamical stability shows that the system is highly unstable or chaotic when planetary masses of about 5 M J for b and 7 M J for the other planets are adopted. Significant regions of dynamical stability for timescales of tens of Myr are found when adopting planetary masses of about 3.5, 5, 5, and 5 M J for HR 8799b, c, d, and e respectively. These masses are below the current estimates based on the stellar age (30 Myr) and theoretical models of substellar objects.