Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I The Earth System
- Part II Global Physical Climatology
- Part III Soil Processes
- Part IV Hydrometeorology
- Part V Biometeorology
- Part VI Terrestrial Plant Ecology
- 19 Plant strategies
- 20 Populations and communities
- 21 Ecosystems
- 22 Vegetation dynamics
- 23 Disturbances and landscapes
- 24 Global biogeography
- Part VII Terrestrial Forcings and Feedbacks
- Index
- Plate section
- References
This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core
20 - Populations and communities
from Part VI - Terrestrial Plant Ecology
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I The Earth System
- Part II Global Physical Climatology
- Part III Soil Processes
- Part IV Hydrometeorology
- Part V Biometeorology
- Part VI Terrestrial Plant Ecology
- 19 Plant strategies
- 20 Populations and communities
- 21 Ecosystems
- 22 Vegetation dynamics
- 23 Disturbances and landscapes
- 24 Global biogeography
- Part VII Terrestrial Forcings and Feedbacks
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
Chapter summary
This chapter continues the discussion of the preceding chapter, focusing on the arrangement of individual plants in populations and multiple species in communities. The concept of a niche is central to the understanding of the organization of species across the landscape. A niche represents the components of the environment to which a species is adapted. Evolutionary pressures have led to niche differentiation in which species differ in preferences for resources and have different functional roles in communities. This is seen in the dispersion of species along resource gradients. Though vegetation can be classified into distinct communities of species, most communities intergrade continuously and exist within a continuum of populations. Species are not grouped along environmental gradients in distinct natural associations, but rather are distributed individualistically according to their own physiology and life history patterns. The manner in which plant populations are arranged into recognizable communities is critical to understanding the response of vegetation to climate change. A plant community that exists today may have no analog under different climate. Particular species enter and dominate a given locale based on prevailing climate and other environmental conditions, the occurrence of disturbance such as fire, and their own life history patterns.
Niche and species abundance
The environment is spatially heterogeneous, varying in light, temperature, soil water, nutrients, and other conditions. Just as physiological processes vary depending on the specific environmental conditions encountered by a plant, so too do plant species thrive over a specific range of environmental conditions.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Ecological ClimatologyConcepts and Applications, pp. 292 - 302Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
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