Plant Strategies and the Dynamics and Structure of Plant Communities (eBook)

David Tilman (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2020
376 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-20959-3 (ISBN)

Infos

Although ecologists have long considered morphology and life history to be important determinants of the distribution, abundance, and dynamics of plants in nature, this book contains the first theory to predict explicitly both the evolution of plant traits and the effects of these traits on plant community structure and dynamics. David Tilman focuses on the universal requirement of terrestrial plants for both below-ground and above-ground resources. The physical separation of these resources means that plants face an unavoidable tradeoff. To obtain a higher proportion of one resource, a plant must allocate more of its growth to the structures involved in its acquisition, and thus necessarily obtain a lower proportion of another resource. Professor Tilman presents a simple theory that includes this constraint and tradeoff, and uses the theory to explore the evolution of plant life histories and morphologies along productivity and disturbance gradients. The book shows that relative growth rate, which is predicted to be strongly influenced by a plant's proportional allocation to leaves, is a major determinant of the transient dynamics of competition. These dynamics may explain the differences between successions on poor versus rich soils and suggest that most field experiments performed to date have been of too short a duration to allow unambiguous interpretation of their results.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 31.3.2020
• Reihe/Serie: Monographs in Population Biology
• Reihe/Serie: Monographs in Population Biology
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Botanik
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Evolution
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz
• Schlagworte: Adaptive value • Addition • Agriculture • Agriculture (Chinese mythology) • Agrostic scabra • Alopercurus pratensis • ambrosia artemisiifolia • Appalachian Mountains • Artemisia ludoviciana • Berteroa incana • Biological interaction • biomass • Biomass (ecology) • Botany • bushland • Cactus • Canopy (biology) • Carex muhlenbergii • Compounding • Correlation and dependence • Crepis tectorum • Cultivar • Dietary element • Directional selection • Douglas fir • Dryas drummondii • Ecological Study • Ecological Succession • Ecology • Economic Methodology • ecosystem • Erigeron canadensis • Experimental economics • Fertilizer • Festuca ovina • Flora • Forb (company) • forestry • genetic variation • geomorphology • Geomys bursarius • Grime, comparison with • Hedeoma hispida • Herbaceous Plant • Herbivore • histogram • Holcus lanatus • Instance (computer science) • Journal of Ecology • leaf area index • Lempholemma • Lespedeza capitata • Liriodendron • Literature • livestock • macrophyte • Mesic habitat • Microtus pennsylvanicus • Mineralization (biology) • Mineralization (geology) • Mycorrhiza • nitrogen • North America • nutrient • nutrient cycle • nutritional isoclines • Old field (ecology) • Optimal Foraging Theory • organic compound • Panicum perlongum • Parameter (computer programming) • Parent material • photosynthesis • Physiology • Pine Barrens (New Jersey) • Pinus strobus • plant community • plant ecology • Plant evolution • Plant morphology • population dynamics • Primary production • Proportion (architecture) • Quercus rubra • Rosa arkansana • rubus • Rumex acetosella • Schizachyrium scoparium • seasonality • Seasonal tropical forest • secondary metabolite • seedling • seed predation • Setaria glauca • Shrub • Soil • Soil fertility • soil ph • soil type • spatial scale • Species distribution • Supply (economics) • The Conceptual Framework • thicket • transient dynamics • Tree • Treefall gap • Trifolium repens • Tumbleweed • Tundra • Turgor pressure • Vaccinium myrtillus • Vaccinium vitis-idaea • Variable (computer science) • Vascular plant • Vegetation • Vegetation type • Vegetative reproduction • Woody plant • year • zero net growth isoclines
• ISBN-10: 0-691-20959-6 / 0691209596
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-20959-3 / 9780691209593