%0 Commentary
%T Challenges and opportunities of the optimality approach in plant ecology
%A Mäkelä, Annikki
%A Givnish, Thomas J.
%A Berninger, Frank
%A Buckley, Thomas N.
%A Farquhar, Graham D.
%A Hari, Pertti
%D 2002
%J Silva Fennica
%V 36
%N 3
%R doi:10.14214/sf.528
%U https://silvafennica.fi/article/528
%X A meeting was held in Hyytiälä, Finland 10–12 April 2000 to assess  critically the current challenges and limitations of the optimality  approach in plant ecophysiology and botany. This article summarises the  general discussions and views of the participants on the use of  optimisation models as tools in plant ecophysiological research. A  general framework of the evolutionary optimisation problem is sketched  with a review of applications, typically involved with balanced  regulation between parallel processes. The usefulness and limitations of  the approach are discussed in terms of published examples, with special  reference to model testing. We conclude that, regardless of inevitable  problems of model formulation, wider application of the optimality  approach could provide a step forward in plant ecophysiology. A major  role of evolutionary theory in this process is simply the formulation of  testable hypotheses, the evaluation of which can lead to important  advances in our ecophysiological understanding and predictive ability.