Functional trait-based multi-objective optimisation of plant communities for ecological restoration under climate change

Planning resilient plant communities for ecological restoration under climate change requires tools that integrate functional trait data with explicit climatic constraints. This study presents a multi-objective optimisation framework that identifies species assemblages balancing hydraulic safety (drought resistance) with functional diversity. We apply this approach to a Mediterranean forest system using three key traits, xylem vulnerability (P50), specific leaf area (SLA), and leaf dry matter content (LDMC), to represent species' physiological performance and resource-use strategies. Climatic filtering is included by deriving community-weighted P50 targets from the Standardised Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), classified into drought categories. We report two representative scenarios—Near Normal (–0.99 < SPEI