Discerning spatial patterns of biodiversity and understanding their proximate and ultimate causes is central to biogeography and one of the key concepts in macroecology. Two of the best-documented spatial patterns of biodiversity are the latitudinal and elevational gradients in species richness. After more than a century of research on species richness along both gradients, we know that both ecological and evolutionary factors may drive the distribution of species along these gradients. While the influence of these factors on overall richness has been studied, their effect on the distribution of species as mediated by species-specific traits has received far less attention.

Different groups with varying life histories, traits and adaptations are likely to behave differently in response to their environment. For my study, I will examine the distribution patterns of different functional types of plants along elevational gradients. I will further examine how these patterns contribute to the plant species richness along the gradient. Species traits have also been shown to influence the geographic range size of a species. However, our understanding of how plant traits influence species elevational range size is still very poor. Hence, I will examine how plant traits interact with an environmental gradient to influence species range sizes. Such studies involving species range limits are important in the context of rapid climate change.

Theory posits that growth rate, fecundity and survival decrease towards range margins due to change in environmental conditions. But how these changes in environmental conditions towards the edges affect functional traits of species and how both factors together impose limitations on elevational range expansion is not well known.

Overall, my study will focus on both the patterns as well as the processes of distribution and diversity along elevational gradients.