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Full Description
This book is about ideas on the nature and causes of temporal change in the species composition of vegetation. In particular it examines the diverse processes of inter action of plants with their environment, and with one another, through which the species composition of vegetation becomes established. The first chapter considers the general nature of vegetation and the ways in which vegetation change is perceived by ecologists. Chapters 2 and 3 provide essential background about the relationships between plants and their abiotic and biotic environment. Anyone who is familiar with the fundamentals of plant ecology may prefer to pass over Chapters 2 and 3 which, of necessity, cover their subject matter very briefly. Sequences of development of vegetation on new volcanic rocks, sand dunes and glacial deposits, respectively, are outlined in Chapters 4, 5 and 6. Chapter 7 is about the patterns of vegetation change which occur in severe habitats around the world, and Chapter 8 discusses wetlands. Chapter 9 discusses the diverse responses of temperate forests to a variety of disturbing influences, and Chapter 10 deals with change in the species-rich forests of the Tropics. Chapter 11 treats, in detail, the empirical and inferential data on the biological processes occurring during vegetation change sequences. Chapter 12 considers the plant community phenomena which are implicated in the development of theory about vegetation change. The final chapter, Chapter 13, draws the diverse themes together into a unified theoretical structure by which the vegetation change phenomena may be understood.
Contents
1 The nature of vegetation and kinds of vegetation change.- Kinds of organisms comprising the vegetation.- Plant populations.- Properties of vegetation.- Vegetation classification and terminology.- The vegetation continuum.- Why study vegetation change?.- Observing vegetation change.- Styles of vegetation change.- 2 Plants and their abiotic environment.- The environmental complex.- Plant variables.- Productivity.- The role of physical and chemical variables.- Master factors.- Factor gradients.- Stress.- Disturbance.- Plants in their environment.- Changes in environments.- 3 Plants and their biotic environment.- Regeneration and plant populations.- Ecophysiological amplitude.- Differences between plant species.- Plant-neighbour relationships.- Plant senescence.- Ecological niches.- Conclusions.- 4 Vegetation development on volcanic ejecta.- Surtsey, Iceland.- Krakatau, Indonesia.- Mount Tarawera, New Zealand.- Mauna Loa and Kilauea, Hawaii, USA.- Some conclusions.- 5 Vegetation development on sand dunes.- The Indiana dunes, Lake Michigan, USA.- The Manawatu dunes, New Zealand.- Some Australian dunes.- Some conclusions.- 6 Vegetation development on glacial deposits.- Glacier Bay, Alaska, USA.- Glacier moraines in other localities in North America.- Direct colonization of moraines by trees.- Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand.- Suggestions about causes of the vegetation changes.- Some conclusions.- 7 Influences of strong environmental pressures.- Deserts of the warm temperate to subtropic zones.- Grasslands and drought.- Rock outcrops.- Temperate alpine regions.- Subpolar regions — the Arctic tundra.- Protected coasts and estuaries subject to tidal influences.- Other extreme soil conditions.- Grazing.- Fire.- Disturbances in confined areas.- Some conclusions.- 8 Patternsof vegetation change in wetlands.- Lakes.- Mires.- Water conditions.- Peat mire stratigraphy.- Some British and Scandinavian mires.- Mires in the southern Great Lakes region, North America.- Stratigraphic studies of British mires.- Indications of interruptions of mire sequential development.- 'Phasic regeneration cycles' in bogs.- Vegetation change processes in wetlands.- Some conclusions.- 9 Changes in some temperate forests after disturbance.- The mixed forests of eastern North America.- The different scales of disturbance.- Sprouts and regeneration.- Revegetation of abandoned farmland.- Actual records of population changes.- The development of old-growth forest stands.- Some conclusions.- 10 Changes in some tropical forests.- Forest structure and diversity.- Forest species structure.- Maintenance of the diversity of tree species in the vegetation.- Diversity, communities and mature forest.- 11 Processes of vegetation change.- Colonization of unvegetated areas.- Population changes of woody species on abandoned fields.- Sequences in other localities.- The causes of continued changes in woody plant populations.- Physiological ecology of juveniles.- Niches.- Maintenance of mature forest.- Influences of other biota.- Some community properties.- Some conclusions.- 12 Community phenomena in vegetation change.- Older theory on succession to climax.- The orthodox succession to climax theory.- Holism and determinism in succession theory.- Reductionism versus determinism.- Ecosystem nutrient budgets.- Plant community and climax concepts.- Predictability and convergence in succession.- Problems with the climax concept.- The kinetic concept.- Individual plant lifestyles ('strategies').- Causes for sequential replacements.- Community stability.- Mathematical and modellingapproaches to community development.- Fluctuations and cycles.- Problems with the succession concept.- 13 On the theory of vegetation change.- Important recent vegetation change literature.- Holism versus reductionism.- Problems with ideas on 'succession to climax'.- Problems with ideas on stability and 'climax'.- 'Kinetic' ideas on vegetation dynamics.- Formulating a theory of vegetation change: the essential problems.- A theory of vegetation change.- New theory in relation to orthodox theory.- Requirements for further research.- The past, present and future of natural vegetation and human relationships with it.- References.
