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Tailoring genotypes for the variety of environmental scenarios associated with climate change requires modelling of the genetic variability of adaptation mechanisms to environmental cues. A large number of physiological mechanisms have been described and modelled, e.g. at transcript, metabolic or hormonal levels, but they remain to be assembled into whole-plant and canopy models. A ‘bottom-up’ approach combining physiological mechanisms leads to a near-infinite number of combinations and to an unmanageable number of parameters, so more parsimonious approaches are required. We propose that natural selection has constrained the large diversity of mechanisms into consistent strategies, in such a way that not all combinations of mechanisms are possible. These constraints, and resulting feedbacks, result in integrative ‘meta-mechanisms’, e.g. response curves of traits to environmental …