A large fraction of experimental work in plant ecology, and thus also on ecosystem functioning and the delivery of ecosystem services, describes experiments that have been carried out under controlled (glasshouse) conditions. Controlled growth settings commonly sacrifice realism through, for example, reducing the densities of plant species in the pots and controlling how environmental settings such as moisture and light vary in favor of a higher mechanistic resolution, which makes these studies particularly suitable for subsequent syntheses. We explore the possibility that further integration of dose–response curves can maximize the impact of existing studies. We suggest that we can expand considerably the scope of the dose and response variables that are considered in plant ecology.

植物生态学以及生态系统功能和生态系统服务提供的大部分实验工作描述了在受控（温室）条件下进行的实验。受控生长设置通常会牺牲现实性，例如，降低盆中植物物种的密度，并控制湿度和光照等环境设置的变化，以有利于更高的机械分辨率，这使得这些研究特别适合后续合成。我们探索进一步整合剂量反应曲线可以最大限度地发挥现有研究影响的可能性。我们建议我们可以大大扩展植物生态学中考虑的剂量和反应变量的范围。