| Studies that compare physiology, anatomy, and ecology across species have offered some of the best insight into adaptation and evolutionary constraints in plants. As a result, the comparative approach has become increasingly used in studies of plant physiological ecology. The high species diversity of Brazilian biomes provides many excellent opportunities for comparative plant ecophysiology, and could be better exploited for understanding the evolution of plant form and function. In this paper we emphasize the importance of considering phylogenetic information for the design and analysis of comparative studies, relying on examples from comparisons of woody plants from cerrado and gallery (riparian) forests. The use of congeneric species pairs, each... |
