{
  "id": 9754038,
  "title": "Phenotypic diversity acts as a higher-order functional trait of populations",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/25/phenotypic-diversity-acts-as-a-higher-order-functional-trait-of",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-25T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.24.754102v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Functional traits are usually assigned to individuals, yet some properties exist only as differences among population members. Whether such higher-order properties predict collective performance remains unclear. Here we used the aquatic plant Spirodela polyrhiza to test whether phenotypic and genetic differences among genotypes predict non-additive population growth. We grew twelve Japanese…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}