Vegetation Ecology

Eddy van der Maarel is a vegetation ecologist and has made a major contribution to the amalgamation of Anglo-American and European approaches in vegetation science. He is one the founding editors of the Journal of Vegetation Science. He is a member of the Royal Academies of Science of The Netherlands and Sweden and a honorary member of the British Ecological Society, the International Association of Vegetation Science and several other societies. Janet Franklin (Professor, School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University) is a vegetation scientist and landscape ecologist trained in geography and ecology. She is a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Vegetation Science and Applied Vegetation Science. She, like Eddy, is particularly interested in vegetation dynamics in response to natural and human disturbance, and the application of vegetation science in nature conservation and planning.

“Summing Up: Recommended.  Graduate students and above.”  (Choice, 1 October 2013)

• Contributors xiPreface xv1 Vegetation Ecology: Historical Notes and Outline 1Eddy van der Maarel and Janet Franklin1.1 Vegetation ecology at the community level 11.2 Internal organization of plant communities 141.3 Structure and function in plant communities and ecosystems 171.4 Human impact on plant communities 201.5 Vegetation ecology at regional to global scales 221.6 Epilogue 242 Classifi cation of Natural and Semi-natural Vegetation 28Robert K. Peet and David W. Roberts2.1 Introduction 282.2 Classifi cation frameworks: history and function 302.3 Components of vegetation classifi cation 332.4 Project planning and data acquisition 352.5 Data preparation and integration 402.6 Community entitation 422.7 Cluster assessment 522.8 Community characterization 542.9 Community determination 582.10 Classifi cation integration 602.11 Documentation 632.12 Future directions and challenges 643 Vegetation and Environment: Discontinuities and Continuities 71Mike P. Austin3.1 Introduction 713.2 Early history 723.3 Development of numerical methods 743.4 Current theory: continuum and community 783.5 Current indirect ordination methods 863.6 Species distribution modelling or direct gradient analysis 933.7 Synthesis 1014 Vegetation Dynamics 107Steward T.A. Pickett, Mary L. Cadenasso and Scott J. Meiners4.1 Introduction 1074.2 The causes of vegetation dynamics 1084.3 Succession in action: interaction of causes in different places 1144.4 Common characteristics across successions 1314.5 Summary 1345 Clonality in the Plant Community 141Brita M. Svensson, Hakan Rydin and Bengt A. Carlsson5.1 Modularity and clonality 1415.2 Where do we fi nd clonal plants? 1455.3 Habitat exploitation by clonal growth 1485.4 Transfer of resources and division of labour 1515.5 Competition and co-existence in clonal plants 1535.6 Clonality and herbivory 1586 Seed Ecology and Assembly Rules in Plant Communities 164Peter Poschlod, Mehdi Abedi, Maik Bartelheimer, Juliane Drobnik, Sergey Rosbakh and Arne Saatkamp6.1 Ecological aspects of diaspore regeneration 1646.2 Brief historical review 1666.3 Dispersal 1676.4 Soil seed bank persistence 1776.5 Germination and establishment 1806.6 Ecological databases on seed ecological traits 1866.7 Seed ecological spectra of plant communities 1866.8 Seed ecological traits as limiting factors for plant species occurrence and assembly 1876.9 Seed ecological traits and species co-existence in plant communities 1917 Species Interactions Structuring Plant Communities 203Jelte van Andel7.1 Introduction 2037.2 Types of interaction 2047.3 Competition 2057.4 Allelopathy 2117.5 Parasitism 2127.6 Facilitation 2157.7 Mutualism 2187.8 Complex species interactions affecting community structure 2217.9 Assembly rules 2258 Terrestrial Plant-Herbivore Interactions: Integrating Across Multiple Determinants and Trophic Levels 233Mahesh Sankaran and Samuel J. McNaughton8.1 Herbivory: pattern and process 2338.2 Coping with herbivory 2418.3 The continuum from symbiotic to parasitic 2478.4 Community level effects of herbivory 2508.5 Integrating herbivory with ecosystem ecology 2559 Interactions Between Higher Plants and Soil-dwelling Organisms 260Thomas W. Kuyper and Ron G.M. de Goede9.1 Introduction 2609.2 Ecologically important biota in the rhizosphere 2619.3 The soil community as cause and consequence of plant community composition 2639.4 Specifi city and selectivity 2659.5 Feedback mechanisms 2689.6 Soil communities and invasive plants 2749.7 Mutualistic root symbioses and nutrient partitioning in plant communities 2759.8 Mycorrhizal networks counteracting plant competition? 2789.9 Pathogenic soil organisms and nutrient dynamics 2799.10 After description 27910 Vegetation and Ecosystem 285Christoph Leuschner10.1 The ecosystem concept 28510.2 The nature of ecosystems 28710.3 Energy fl ow and trophic structure 28910.4 Biogeochemical cycles 29911 Diversity and Ecosystem Function 308Jan Leps11.1 Introduction 30811.2 Measurement of species diversity 30911.3 Determinants of species diversity in the plant community 31511.4 Patterns of species richness along gradients 31911.5 Stability 32411.6 On the causal relationship between diversity and ecosystem functioning 32912 Plant Functional Types and Traits at the Community, Ecosystem and World Level 347Andrew N. Gillison12.1 The quest for a functional paradigm 34712.2 Form and function: evolution of the 'functional' concept in plant ecology 34812.3 The development of functional typology 34812.4 Plant strategies, trade-offs and functional types 35512.5 The mass ratio hypothesis 36112.6 Functional diversity and complexity 36212.7 Moving to a trait-based ecology – response and effect traits 36312.8 Plant functional types and traits as bioindicators 37012.9 Environmental monitoring 37212.10 Trait-based climate modelling 37412.11 Scaling across community, ecosystem and world level 37612.12 Discussion 37713 Plant Invasions and Invasibility of Plant Communities 387Marcel Rejmanek, David M. Richardson and Petr Pysek13.1 Introduction 38713.2 Defi nitions and major patterns 38813.3 Invasibility of plant communities 39313.4 Habitat compatibility 40113.5 Propagule pressure and residence time 40213.6 What are the attributes of successful invaders? 40413.7 Impact of invasive plants, justifi cation and prospects of eradication projects 41314 Vegetation Conservation, Management and Restoration 425Jan P. Bakker14.1 Introduction 42514.2 From agricultural exploitation to nature conservation 42714.3 Vegetation management in relation to a hierarchy of environmental processes 43014.4 Laissez-faire and the wilderness concept 43014.5 Management and restoration imply setting targets 43314.6 Setting targets implies monitoring 43714.7 Effects of management and restoration practices 43814.8 Constraints in management and restoration 44414.9 Strategies in management and restoration 44715 Vegetation Types and Their Broad-scale Distribution 455Elgene O. Box and Kazue Fujiwara15.1 Introduction: vegetation and plant community 45515.2 Form and function, in plants and vegetation 45615.3 Vegetation types 46415.4 Distribution of the main world vegetation types 46615.5 Regional vegetation 46915.6 Vegetation modelling and mapping at broad scales 47215.7 Vegetation and global change 47916 Mapping Vegetation from Landscape to Regional Scales 486Janet Franklin16.1 Introduction 48616.2 Scale and vegetation mapping 48916.3 Data for vegetation mapping 49016.4 Methods for vegetation mapping 49516.5 Examples of recent vegetation maps illustrating their different uses 50016.6 Dynamic vegetation mapping 50116.7 Future of vegetation mapping research and practice 50217 Vegetation Ecology and Global Change 509Brian Huntley and Robert Baxter17.1 Introduction 50917.2 Vegetation and climatic change 51017.3 Confounding effects of other aspects of global change 51817.4 Conclusions 525References 527Index 531